1sentence: A Read or Die Collection
by Rhianwen
Summary: Chapter 9: Playing Favourites. The way Yomiko is with books, Nenene knows that being her favourite author is something to be proud of. Yomiko/Nenene, with hints of Nenene/Yomiko/Nancy.
1. The Start of Something

Maggie/Nenene - Beta theme set

------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: The characters appearing and mentioned in this piece are respectfully borrowed from the creators of Read or Die/Read or Dream, and the fifty themes are respectfully borrowed from the 1sentence community on livejournal.

------------------------------------------------

Notes: Hokay, I've had this one posted in various places for quite a while, so chances are you've probably seen it. Nevertheless, I've got a bunch of these, for various ROD pairings (no, not all involving Wendy!), so I'll probably post them gradually. And heck, maybe I'll even get up off my butt and write some new ones sometime.

------------------------------------------------

#01 – Walking

She wishes that Maggie wouldn't hunch over like that when she walks; even though it's cute and just like Maggie to do it, it can't be good for her back, and her height is a blessing anyway – she knows that she's not the only one that looks admiringly at Maggie's long, slender shape.

#02 – Waltz

It's hard to say which of the girls is more astonished to find that the other knows how to waltz when Nenene jokingly asks Maggie at that Christmas party – the only problem is, both of them can lead like a dream, but neither of them is good at following.

#03 – Wishes

Maggie thinks that if she had three wishes, she knows what they would be: to make Michelle, Anita, and Nenene all happy for the rest of their lives, and she would use one wish for each of the people she cares about most, just to make sure.

#04 – Wonder

Nenene knows that Maggie's seen and read a lot, and her memory is almost scary; it makes a good excuse, anyway, to spend more time talking to her, checking up on details before she puts them in her books, learning something new about Maggie if she's really lucky.

#05 – Worry

Over the time they've spent together, Nenene has learned that, even though she never talks about it, Maggie has made worrying about anything and everything into an art form.

#06 – Whimsy

Even though Nenene tried to pass it off as the smart thing to do, the idea of all of them living peaceably together in one house was never more than a silly flight of fancy, and the more she thinks about it, the more she's glad because she knows that lots of people around all the time gives Maggie a headache.

#07 – Waste/Wasteland

Nenene's starting to understand a little better why Maggie likes sleeping in a storage closet filled with books – anywhere else probably seems like a barren, bookless wasteland; but all the same, she doesn't go to join Maggie in there very often, because her back hurts for days when she does.

#08 – Whisky and Rum

It always startles Maggie to find out again just how light Nenene is, almost as much as it startles her just how few of her favourite drinks it takes for Nenene to forget her own name, because she has a way of seeming much bigger than she is.

#09 – War

When she thinks back to everything that happened with the British Library, Maggie wonders if any of them would have come through it if Nenene hadn't been there, forgetting everything that was bothering her to focus on making plans for all the other people who couldn't put aside their own problems.

#10 – Weddings

Nenene's always hated going to weddings, and that's why she brings Maggie with her now when she gets roped into one – because Maggie likes them, and seeing Maggie smile puts Nenene in a good mood.

#11 - Birthday

She wants to do something really special for Maggie's birthday this year, but Anita and Michelle are no help – Short Stuff just snorted and said to buy her a big box to hide in, and Michelle giggled and said she could always jump out of the box, wearing confetti and streamers, and give Maggie a real surprise.

#12 – Blessing

Whenever Nenene looks at Maggie – and Anita and Michelle too, she adds grudgingly – and remembers all the times she wished desperately that she could trade all three of them to have Yomiko back, she shivers, and thanks God that all wishes don't come true.

#13 – Bias

Nenene has said often that there's no such thing as a completely unbiased position, that everything you believe comes with some kind of values, and it always confuses Maggie, because why would you want your ideas to have no value?

#14 – Burning

Maggie doesn't make excuses for thinking the things that she does, so she didn't even try to explain away the sensation that something at the back of her mind had burst into flame when she accidentally caught Nenene stumbling dripping wet and naked out of the shower, muttering about the lack of clean towels.

#15 – Breathing

It started out with kissing, but that was hours ago; now they're just lying here, drifting in and out of sleep, lips still brushing, breath mingling.

#16 – Breaking

"If you ever hurt Maggie," Anita tells her darkly, "I'll break your fingers so you can't write," and Nenene laughs a bit, but not as much as when she overhears Anita talking to Maggie: "If you ever hurt Nenene, I'll break your fingers so you can't read."

#17 - Belief

Nenene admires and sometimes envies Maggie's ability to see and believe in what makes her happy even when she doesn't always understand the details; Maggie admires and often envies Nenene's ability to see the details so clearly, and to fit them into what makes her happy.

#18 – Balloon

Maggie doesn't know whether to be hurt or amused when she makes Nenene a paper balloon after they pass about two dozen kids in the park with the things to their wrists with ribbons, and the first thing Nenene does is try to pop it.

#19 – Balcony

Ever since she read about it in a book, she's wanted to try it, and even if Nenene's half-asleep because she's been hauled out of bed seven hours earlier than usual and Michelle's whimpering and Anita's yelling at them to get out, there's something about watching the sunrise from a balcony over early-morning coffee that Maggie can't wait to do again sometime.

#20 – Bane

They both hate large crowds, even if there's a big difference from being uncomfortable with them and being irritated by them.

#21 – Quiet

No one would ever believe it to spend time with her, but one of Nenene's favourite things about Maggie is how easy it is to just be quiet together.

#22 – Quirks

"I think her quirks are cute," Maggie admits, blushing, and Anita makes a face; "Sure, if you call being a grump all the time a _quirk_."

#23 – Question

Nenene will probably never know how she does it, but somehow, she always ends up feeling like a moron for over-complicating things when Maggie asks a question that puts everything back in perspective.

#24 – Quarrel

Anita noted disapprovingly once that Nenene and Maggie never fight, and that's a bad sign, because _you have to fight every now and again if the relationship is going to work_; when Nenene tells her that it's hard to argue with someone who just won't, Anita thinks she might know what Nenene means, because Hisami doesn't argue either.

#25 – Quitting

Maggie just smiles when Nenene storms into the kitchen to proclaim her new resolution – it's the fifth time in three months she's tried to go off coffee.

#26 – Jump

Ten minutes later, Nenene is bending her knees to get some height on the next try, and jumping in attempt to grab away the pot of coffee that Maggie is holding above her head, reminding her that they've all promised to help her get over the caffeine dependency.

#27 – Jester

Both of them agree wholeheartedly, glowering darkly at that stupid commercial, that clowns are _not funny_.

#28 – Jousting

"I wanna try that sometime," Nenene proclaims loudly while they're watching this ridiculous movie, lifting her head from Maggie's knee and miming horseback riding and then swinging her imaginary spear, and Maggie has to try not to laugh as she proclaims quietly, "I think you should go back on coffee and give up drinking instead."

#29 – Jewel

Nenene watches Maggie carefully and reverently examining the manuscript as though it was something infinitely rare and precious, and a sharp ache goes through her chest at the familiarity of a shy, sweet, dark-haired girl making far more of her writing than it probably deserves.

#30 – Just

Maggie knows that it's one of the hardest things in the world to be completely fair to people, and she wonders sometimes how Nenene got so good at it.

#31 – Smirk

"Stop looking at me like that, Nenene; Michelle made me buy it to take to the beach."

#32 – Sorrow

Okay, to be fair, she was a _little _annoyed at first when Maggie announced her intentions of turning her over to the British Library, but as soon as she got a good look at Maggie's eyes, anger was the last thing on Nenene's mind.

#33 – Stupidity

They make a concentrated effort to spend enough time with everyone else, but neither Michelle nor Anita thanks them much for it – Michelle just frowns worriedly that they don't make enough time for just the two of them, and Anita just snorts and tells them to stop being stupid.

#34 – Serenade

"I don't think she'd like that," Maggie says doubtfully, trying to find the most diplomatic way to respond to this particularly silly suggestion of Michelle's with a no way in Hell.

#35 – Sarcasm

"And I guess you're never sarcastic," Maggie says, hiding a smile, when Nenene stops ranting about that jerk she calls her editor long enough to take a breath.

#36 – Sordid

"Come on, readers like a little sleaze every now and again," Nenene protests when Maggie suggests dubiously that she take this section out because it doesn't read like her at all, but she's arguing mostly for show, because a part of her hoped that Maggie would pick that out when she wrote it.

#37 – Soliloquy

"I think the word soliloquy must have been invented for you," Maggie says with that wonderful slow smile as Nenene's angry tale comes to a close; and after a startled, sheepish moment, Nenene smirks, "Nah, that would be more like solilo-rant."

#38 – Sojourn

Maggie thinks that they must not be doing a very good job spending time just the two of them like they promised Michelle they would, because there's no way that her sister is _really_ too tired to go to a book fair.

#39 – Share

"You know, you're one hell of a writer yourself," Nenene tells her, giving the dark-haired girl back her journal, not without some reluctance.

#40 – Solitary

They have a system now: when Maggie leaves the closet door open a crack, that means that Nenene is allowed to crawl in with her, but when it's all the way closed, that means that Maggie is starting to find all these people around her all the time a little stifling, and needs some time by herself.

#41 – Nowhere

It's terrifying when she thinks about it, exactly what the possibility of losing another past must have meant to the girls who are almost everything to her now – they knew they'd already lost one that they'll never get back, and the idea of who and what they are now completely disappearing like it never happened must have been agony.

#42 – Neutral

Maggie's as good at not taking any side in an argument as Nenene is at taking both sides at once; maybe that's why they can't work up a really good fight of their own.

#43 – Nuance

Nenene's been saying for years that people are simple until you get to know them, and now she thinks that she's met the epitome of that phrase in Maggie.

#44 – Near

It seemed like back when it was all happening, no matter how much Maggie was drowned out of Nenene's mind with thoughts of Yomiko, or how much Nenene was pushed aside from Maggie's mind to focus on helping her sisters, they still somehow always managed to end up walking, or standing, or sitting, or sleeping, very close together.

#45 – Natural

Maybe they didn't notice it because it just felt natural to gravitate to each other like this.

#46 – Horizon

Maggie feels like she's going to fall asleep any moment, but she declines the offer to let someone else drive, because Nenene's been telling her stories to keep her awake.

#47 – Valiant

She makes a heroic attempt, but Nenene can't quite manage to stop a tiny bit of vindictive satisfaction from arrowing through her when she sees Yomiko's expression, a little bit lost and hurt, upon finding out that her Nenene has moved on and found someone else, too.

#48 – Virtuous

She's really trying not to let herself think things like that anymore, because Maggie never has petty, selfish, bitchy thoughts like that, and the last thing she needs is to be haunted by the sensation that she's stopping Maggie from finding someone who deserves her.

#49 – Victory

Nevertheless, eventually Nenene's conscience gets the better of her, and she tells Maggie what she's been thinking: _You know, I'm not a very good person; you could do a lot better._

#50 – Defeat

And apparently, Nenene thinks, laughing and teary, when she finds herself pinned to the couch by her lover's hands like iron at her shoulders, and by her lover's eyes, intense and amazing and a little panicked, Maggie doesn't think much of this idea.

-----------------------------------------------

End Notes: Hee! This is one of the first ones I did, so I've made a few more edits to get rid of the more glaring run-ons. But, yeah; Maggie/Nenene! Yaay:D


	2. Don't Look Away

Anita/Nenene - Epsilon theme set

--------------------------------------------

#01 – Motion

"Hey, brat, do you ever sit still for a minute?" Nenene calls, half-annoyed and half-laughing as Anita flits (noisily) around the room, somehow drinking a carton of milk and reading at the same time.

#02 – Cool

It's kind of weird, because Anita always thought she would be like Maggie in some ways, and Michelle in others, when she grew up, but lately she's thinking that it would be kind of cool to be like Nenene.

#03 – Young

"Maybe you'll get smarter when you grow a few more feet, eh, squirt?" Nenene cackles when she finds Anita completely stumped by a crossword puzzle, and Anita grumbles and snarls and stomps around until she notices Nenene throwing the puzzle book down in disgust, and then she snickers instead.

#04 – Last

"You've told us that Yomiko was your _first_ kiss, but you've never said who was your _last_," Michelle points out impishly, and when Nenene turns red and refuses to say, the blonde giggles almost hysterically, assuming a long list of names and kisses, but Anita knows Nenene better than that, and suspects that her _first_ and _last_ were the same.

#05 – Wrong

Poor Anita's having a bad week, because it still feels _weird_ to see Tohru and Hisami still holding hands, but it feels even _weirder_ to think of her holding hands with Junior like her sisters are teasing her about; so Nenene makes a point to remind her that you're not required to find your soulmate before you're finished the eighth grade.

#06 – Gentle

Anita knows that Yomiko is trying to let Nenene down easy and that's why she can't seem to just _say_ it, admit she loves Junior's mom; and she's trying to be sympathetic but she just ends up feeling bad for Nenene, because she knows that her newest big sister has about as much use for tact at the expense of truth as she does.

#07 – One

When Nenene finds Anita aiming a pressure washer at the side of the house because some idiot classmate had a carton of eggs and too much free time, she asks how long this'll take, and Anita crosses her arms and huffs: "If you go away and let me work, an hour; if you help, two hours."

#08 – Thousand

Sometimes, Nenene can be really annoying, like when Anita blusters that she's told Michelle a thousand times not to show up at school like that, and Nenene grins and asks, _so, you're keeping track?_, as if it's not just a stupid expression that _everyone_ uses.

#09 – King

On the way home from the store, Anita sees a big, sturdy tree, so she just has to scramble up to the very top and declare herself King of the World; and Nenene, hiding a grin, is asking if she maybe meant _Queen_.

#10 – Learn

"Hey, I learned to get along with you," Anita shrugs with a cheeky grin when Nenene finds her and Hisami trying to teach themselves circular breathing so they could play the trumpet better...you know, when they learned to play the trumpet; "Anything's gotta be easy after that."

#11 – Blur

On her sixteenth birthday, Anita spends some time lamenting that _time goes so fast and you're old before you know it_, and Nenene tells her flatly to shut up, because she doesn't know what old _is_; and now Anita's snickering, because it was a matter of seconds before Nenene was told the same thing by Drake.

#12 – Wait

"Geez, Anita, would you _wait_ a minute?" Nenene grumbles when the teen fidgets all through the endless process of hairstyling, and now the author is sulking, because everyone in the room burst out laughing at the idea of Nenene Sumiregawa lecturing someone else on patience.

#13 – Change

"Are you still using the same towel as last month?" Nenene demands to cover up for startled shout and uncomfortable blush as a barely-covered Anita, who's actually managed to grow a _figure_ over the last couple months, bursts into her room for a comb.

#14 – Command

"Oh, it's just Nenene and Anita trying to boss each other around again," Michelle replies pleasantly when Junior looks up with a start at the shouts and crashes echoing from overhead, and asks what's going on.

#15 – Hold

"Hey; she's asleep," Anita informs Nenene's editor, rolling her eyes at the sight of her landlord dozing peacefully on the couch, because this poor guy's been waiting on hold for about twenty minutes.

#16 – Need

"Okay, fine, and you too," Anita grumbles reluctantly, snuggling closer to the only other person in the house awake at this hour, after that nightmare again about the exploding helicopter leaving her all alone without the people she needs most.

#17 – Vision

Nenene's been fighting the procedure to have her wisdom teeth removed, but she has to admit, it wasn't so bad; especially after, when Anita was there to slide her glasses back on – crooked, like last time – and half-carry her out to the parking lot; and it's only then that Nenene first realized, Anita's taller than her now.

#18 – Attention

Anita doesn't know why she gets so much attention, at school and at home; and Nenene knows that she hardly ever asks for it, but still can't stop herself from grinning and asking, "So, how's the center of everyone's universe?"

#19 – Soul

"Hisa says that when she writes, it's like she leaves a little of her soul behind in whatever she's writing; is it like that for you, too?"

#20 – Picture

"Yup, you're a good-looking kid, alright," Nenene grins when Anita shakes her head at the highschool photo of Nenene that makes all her friends think they're related because the resemblance is really _uncanny_; and now Anita's blushing a little and doesn't know why.

#21 – Fool

"What kind of idiot," Nenene demands, very carefully loud enough for that old man scowling at their impromptu picnic until Hisa wants to go inside and Anita just wants to clock him, "comes to a park right outside a _high school_, on _lunch break_, and complains about all the kids hanging around?"

#22 – Mad

"Yeah, but when isn't she?" Anita mutters when Michelle hears a door slam overhead and asks, alarmed, if Nenene is angry about something.

#23 – Child

Nenene knows that Michelle and Maggie try to encourage Anita, even now at seventeen, to take time to be a kid, because in a lot of ways she didn't get her chance at a childhood with a family that loved her; for her part, Nenene tries to encourage all three of them to do the same thing for the same reason – at least, when it doesn't involve her credit cards.

#24 – Now

Waking up on the floor tangled up in a blanket and an Anita hasn't felt awkward since the kid was twelve and all four of them took naps like this every other day; but Nenene's pretty sure that up until a little while ago, the younger girl's breath at the side of her neck would have.

#25 – Shadow

"Sorry, squirt," Nenene calls, watching a shadow with longish, unkempt hair stealing over the couch as Anita sneaks up on her, "I already know you're there."

#26 – Goodbye

"What, you just got something your eye?" Nenene asks a sniffling Anita, gently teasing, and Anita gives her a soggy smile: "Yeah, it's been in here since Hisa left for college yesterday."

#27 – Hide

Anita's not great at keeping secrets, so Nenene knows about her surprise party well in advance; but she kind of hates surprises, so overall she's glad Anita's got a big mouth.

#28 – Fortune

The first time Anita finally does it, finally corners Nenene in the kitchen and kisses her, a little nervous and sloppy but wondering and exuberant, Nenene thinks they're just lucky that no one else was around, because knowing Anita, she would have done it anyway.

#29 – Safe

"You two'll look after her, right?" Nenene asks anxiously before she can stop herself the night before her bodyguards are supposed to leave for a job out of the country; and Maggie, who's better at stopping herself, agrees while wondering with a tiny grin if Nenene's forgotten all the times that _Anita_ helped to rescue _her_.

#30 – Ghost

"Yeah, not many people have to compete with the ghost of someone who's still alive," Anita grumbles over the phone to Hisami, who's heard all about it and doesn't know whether to laugh at her best friend's flippancy, or sympathize, or suggest mildly that maybe Miss Sumiregawa was telling the truth when she said that Anita's well-being was the reason she didn't want to rush things.

#31 – Book

Anita always ends up getting the first peek at Nenene's newest work, because even though she gathers all three sisters and Yomiko and Nancy together for a _first impression_ as soon as it's done, Anita's never been good at patience, and reads it over her shoulder as she writes it.

#32 – Eye

Anita told her once, _yeah, you glower all the time, but your eyes tell the truth_, and since then, Nenene's had to accept that she's just not as scary as she'd like to be.

#33 – Never

"Not on your life," Nenene laughs incredulously when Anita asks hopefully if she wants to come out and join the soccer game.

#34 – Sing

Maggie and Michelle are trying to nudge Anita back into the right key – or, for that matter, into _a_ key – as they crowd around and sing Happy Birthday, and Nenene's doubled over with laughter, which doesn't happen often enough, so Anita just ignores her sisters' hints and sings louder.

#35 – Sudden

"Oh, my; when did this happen?" a cautiously delighted Michelle asks when she comes downstairs in the middle of the night, and finds the two that never stop bickering tangled together on the couch, both bright red and silent because they can't really remember when it began now that they think about it.

#36 – Stop

"Well, you know, they didn't just suddenly stop being Anita and Nenene, and this is what Anita and Nenene do," Michelle points out cheerfully when Yomiko observes, confused, that they fight quite a lot, for two people in love; "And anyway, they have more fun fighting with each other than getting along with anyone else."

#37 – Time

Even now, Anita and Nenene gravely agree that the best times are still when they're all together, them and Michelle and Maggie, and Yomiko and Nancy and Junior, and Hisami.

#38 – Wash

Today's argument features a dispute over the issue of whether or not _doing the dishes_ falls under the bracket of _making dinner_, and ends with a waterfight, not only between Anita and Nenene, but all four of them when Michelle heard the shrieks of laughter from the kitchen and raced down, Maggie at her heels, to see what they were missing.

#39 – Torn

Nenene doesn't do sap, but she still got a little teary-eyed when, about a week after facing down that clown and his group of lunatics, Anita presented her, bright red and grumpy, with that photo of her and Yomiko, taped carefully back together and set in a new frame.

#40 – History

"You know, it was all true," Anita admits, wiping away tears of mirth at the memory of that stupid diary Michelle wrote in her name; "I had a hell of a crush on you, I just wouldn't have said it like that," and Nenene explodes into another guffaw: "No one on earth but Michelle would have said it like that."

#41 – Power

"You couldn't be _normal_ if you wanted to, Nenene," Anita scoffed once when the author lamented with a theatrical sigh that she felt a little inadequate, the only normal person in a group of people with superpowers.

#42 – Bother

"I know you hate wrapping paper," Nenene points out as Anita delves joyously into the brown paper bag containing her birthday gift, "so I didn't bother taping it shut."

#43 – God

"There must be a God," Nenene announces happily as she curls up and snuggles her pillow, "because something as terrific as sleep couldn't happen on its own," and Anita wishes for a minute that she was the romantic type, because she'd kind of like to tell Nenene that she thinks the same thing about her.

#44 – Wall

"Reasoning with Nenene is _not_ like reasoning with a wall!" Anita declares hotly, and just as Maggie is about to protest that she didn't mean anything bad by it, Nenene is her friend too, Anita continues with a huge grin: "I've never met a wall as stubborn as her."

#45 – Naked

"Aren't people who lived alone for years supposed to get into the habit of wandering around naked?" Anita demands, pouting as Nenene emerges from the bathroom wrapped in a long, baggy terrycloth robe.

#46 – Drive

"Yeah; let's leave the driving to Maggie," Nenene suggests, gazing thoughtfully at the two dents in the car, one made by Anita's driving lesson, and one from Nenene driving home after Anita crashed into a fence.

#47 – Harm

It's about damn time, Anita thinks with a huge smile, because it's the first morning she's woken up wrapped comfortably around the brunette, and Nenene hasn't asked right away, _are you alright?_

#48 – Precious

Even now, when she loves all books and has for years, Anita still has a special place on her bookshelf for Midnight Liberation Zone, right next to Red-Haired Anne – the first two books she ever really _enjoyed_ reading.

#49 – Hunger

When Nenene asks one evening when it's just them if she wants omlet or stew for supper, Anita smiles, blushes, replies _neither one_, and jumps Nenene before she can ask what the hell _that's_ supposed to mean.

#50 - Believe

Nenene spends so much time being sarcastic that sometimes Anita doesn't know when to take it seriously; but when she finally gets up the nerve, finally tells Anita she loves her but not like a baby sister, Anita thinks she's pretty safe in believing that.

-------------------------------------------------


	3. Adaptable

Chapter 3: Adaptable

Nenene/Wendy - Alpha theme set

* * *

Summary: They've been friends-of-a-friend, they've been friends, and they've been enemies; Nenene thinks they're ready to give this _lovers_ thing a shot.

* * *

#01 – Comfort

Wendy spends a long time awake the night after the I-jin incident, wracked with sympathy for poor Yomiko who's lost a girl she loves but not like a sister; but then the image rises in her mind of that green-eyed author-harpy Yomiko's so close with, and suddenly Wendy doesn't know who she wants to comfort and soothe and cuddle anymore.

#02 – Kiss

Her mind is quickly made up for her when Nenene herself arrives at Wendy's door, demanding to know where Yomiko is, and Wendy does what she does best: offers a cup of tea, with some whiskey thrown in to calm the pretty author down a bit; after three cups, Nenene ends up half in her lap, sobbing out the story about her first kiss.

#03 – Soft

"Softie," Nenene grins teasingly, catching Wendy's teardrops at _such a romantic story_ with a fingertip.

#04 – Pain

Nenene doesn't know how Yomiko's dealing so well with it, finding out that their cute little blonde one-time friend has morphed into a ruthless robot-woman, because damned if she wouldn't like to knock some sense into Wendy herself.

#05 – Potatoes

Wendy rolls her eyes, knowing she's missing some kind of inside joke, when Nenene smirks a bit and then shoves her dinner tray back at the flight attendant and demands potatoes and curry instead.

#06 – Rain

"You always this nice to people you're kidnapping?" Nenene asks, raising one sopping wet eyebrow as Wendy unfolds and hands her a spare umbrella without a word.

#07 – Chocolate

"You got any _coffee_ in this place?" Nenene asks, eyeing the cup of hot chocolate with deep loathing, nevertheless stealing all the marshmallows out of Wendy's cup while the blonde starts back to the kitchen.

#08 – Happiness

"Thanks for the pick-up," Wendy grumbles at her boss, shrewish from an hour's walk in the rain, in heels, with the organization's latest kidnap victim, and Joker doesn't look happy, but Nenene kind of thinks this _spine_ thing suits her.

#09 – Telephone

"Yes, we _did_ have a phone," Nenene agrees pleasantly with Joker, before glaring at a distinctly sheepish-looking Wendy, "until _someone_ dropped it off a bridge trying to make a call."

#10 – Ears

"You've still got the ears wrong," Wendy tells the Mirror Man impatiently, and Will Callaghan wonders, grinning, why Miss Wendy has spent enough time looking at Nenene Sumiregawa to know.

#11 – Name

"Hey, could you tell your people that if one more idiot calls me _Nay-nay-nay_, I'll start removing kneecaps?"

#12 – Sensual

"And if _you_ call me _slave-girl_ one more time, I'll take away your hand cream and scented candles," the little blonde replies, arms crossed huffily.

#13 – Death

"You know, they might just kill you both when they get here," Nenene tells her _slave-girl_ quietly, "so you should probably just let me go before someone gets hurt."

#14 - Sex

The Mirror Man's idea of getting Miss Wendy into bed using that Sumiregawa girl's shape fails miserably, and he has the bruises to show it, but that doesn't necessary disprove his theory; he's never been able to get her into bed using Joker's shape, either.

#15 – Touch

"I've been ordered to keep you comfortable, you know," Wendy shrugs, rubbing Nenene's back and shoulders, aching from hours hunched over a writing desk, and Nenene would be a little quicker to throw her across the room and a chair after her if she wasn't really _good_ at it.

#16 – Weakness

"Yeah, I know I could take you down pretty easily," Nenene shrugs, "but having friends that'll come rescue you when you get yourself kidnapped means you don't have to plan your own daring escapes - but I guess you wouldn't know; you'd need some real friends first."

#17 – Tears

Years ago, she cried like the little _softie_ she used to be over Sumiregawa and Yomiko's story, but now the sight of them perched together on a heap of rubble, perfectly content, is having the opposite affect, and she finds herself smiling through a blur of sick terror for the people she loves.

#18 – Speed

_Huh...I guess she learned to run in heels without dying_, Nenene thinks absently when she notices her _slave-girl_ beating a hasty retreat with a glassy-eyed, white-haired Joker draped over her shoulders; then, carefully failing to mention to anyone else that the _bad guys_ are leaving early, she goes back to basking in Yomiko's delight at her new manuscript.

#19 – Wind

"He did, actually; pneumonia," Wendy replies, trying to be indifferent about it when Nenene remarks that Joker must have died or something if she's here, alone, on a bench outside a bookshop in Kolkata, and it's only slightly embarrassing when she finds the tears coming faster than the wind can dry them, because Sumiregawa already knows she's a softie.

#20 – Freedom

"Not a bad deal for you, though - you had your fun with him, and now he's out of the way," Nenene shrugs, and she barely has time to notice the fist flying at her face before she's lying on the ground next to the bench, while Wendy scurries resignedly away to beg some ice from a street vendor.

#21 – Life

"You know, you should probably be grateful," Nenene burbles through the bleeding nose that the little blonde is nursing beneath Yomiko's startled eyes; "If you hadn't been the bearer of good news when you turned yourself in, your sentence would have probably been a lot closer to _life_ than three measly little years."

#22 – Jealousy

"Do you want your kneecaps removed?" she demands ominously when Wendy reflects aloud, with a devious little sideways glance, that from what she remembers, Yomiko and Nancy are absolutely _adorable_ together.

#23 – Hands

"Finally broke the habit, huh?" she notes, grabbing Wendy's hand on impulse and smirking at the difference between the chewed-off nails she used to have and the dainty pale pink gloss she uses now to stop herself.

#24 – Taste

"Can I please have a new nickname?" Wendy pouts when Nenene phones her up unexpectedly and asks for _Slave-Girl_; "I think that one's in slightly poor taste."

#25 – Devotion

"You know, if Joker put half the dedication in his evil scheming that you put into shopping, he probably wouldn't have lost," Nenene says, wide-eyed with disbelief at the numerous packages her _coffee-buddy_ has stashed under her chair.

#26 – Forever

"You're never going to tell them you're meeting me, are you?" Wendy asks softly on the fifth meeting of their Sisterhood of Grouchy Pissed-Off Bitches.

#27 – Blood

She never did get an answer, so she takes matters into her own hands and hunts up Nenene's address to pay a visit, even though she knows very well that blood may be spilt before the younger girl can even reach the door.

#28 – Sickness

Nenene learns anew that she's a far better person than she wants to be, when she storms over to Wendy's apartment several hours later to yell at her for riling everyone up when she was in the middle of a chapter, but finds her curled up on the couch and aching with flu, and stays to put her to bed and make her some soup.

#29 – Melody

"Look, I'll tell you a story, but there's no way you're getting a lullaby," Nenene says flatly once Wendy's been safely tucked in and pumped full of flu medication and fever reducers.

#30 – Star

"Ohh, I can't believe they didn't even give you a role in the movie adaptation of your own book; they should have let you _star_!" Wendy declared loudly, her Candy-Apple martini very nearly ending up in Nenene's lap as she gestured wildly.

#31 – Home

"God, how long do you have to live somewhere before it becomes home?" Nenene demands, furious and worried, when her drinking buddy mentions recent thoughts of moving back to England.

#32 – Confusion

"Do you have some inborn barrier against making sense?" Wendy asks, breathless from a bitter argument that somehow ended with her pushed up against a wall and kissed until coherent thought was far beyond both of them.

#33 – Fear

"I hate to break it to you, but you're just not scary without fifty-seven heavily armed henchmen right behind you," Nenene snickers when Wendy tries and fails to intimidate a telemarketer into going away, and just ends up slamming down the phone and glaring at it.

#34 - Lightning/Thunder

There's something strangely endearing about it when Nenene drags her away from the window during a thunderstorm, and doesn't stop being jumpy and nervous until it passes.

#35 – Bonds

Nenene's never considered herself bound by the constraints of polite society, so when she wants to grab her girl's cute little backside in public, just to hear her squeak and see her turn red, well, she just goes ahead and does it.

#36 – Market

"Don't ever go into advertising," Nenene suggests kindly when Wendy describes a pre-packaged casserole as almost _edible_, with enough hot sauce.

#37 – Technology

"You knew that Gentleman-o-Matic inside and out, but you can't work a computer?" Nenene snorted in disbelief when Wendy announced grumpily that it still wasn't working.

#38 – Gift

"Now, is this a gift for me, or for you?" Nenene wonders, holding up the skimpy little swimsuit, and laughing as Wendy, blushing brightly, admits that it was both.

#39 – Smile

Wendy thinks there's nothing more beautiful than Nenene when she's smiling, but the girl certainly doesn't waste her smiles; when she finds herself unconsciously trying very hard to earn them, she shivers a little at how easy it is to fall back into the pattern of living to please a lover.

#40 – Innocence

Nenene knows that Wendy will never be innocent like she was, but can see a familiar transparency returning now that she's not involved in directing secret plots and things, an inability to lie or pretend, and she thinks that's kind of like innocence.

#41 – Completion

It's kind of embarrassing, when Nenene and Wendy spend six hours on their new jigsaw puzzle with no headway, and then Maggie comes and joins the puzzle-party and has it done within another two.

#42 – Clouds

"I can't believe you've never tried cotton candy – it's _so_ good, just like eating a cloud," a little blonde insists, shoving the sweet, sticky concoction at a little brunette, who relents and tries it...and promptly chokes as her brain is overwhelmed by the sugar.

#43 – Sky

"Hey, you wanna go sky-diving today?" Nenene asks cheerfully, and Wendy just ignores her, because she's been asking it everyday since she found out about the blonde's secret, well-concealed fear of heights.

#44 – Heaven

"Oh, come on," Nenene snorts; "Heaven is for saints like Yomiko and Maggie – what would they want with me?."

#45 – Hell

"But I don't think Hell would take you, either," Wendy counters softly; "It's only for people like Joker and me."

#46 – Sun

"I hate you," Nenene declares flatly when an entire day spent wandering around in the blazing sun leaves her bright red and sore everywhere, while her lover gets away looking a little browner than usual.

#47 – Moon

So Wendy makes it up to her by keeping her kidnapped a little longer, and rubs her sunburned skin with cooling aloe gel while the moonlight pours in through the window, and ends up keeping her for the rest of the night, because by the time she's done, Nenene's fallen sound asleep.

#48 – Waves

Nenene watches the waves rolling steadily in, then shakes her head as a dismayed little shriek and a thud testify that Wendy's not having much luck climbing around on those rocks.

#49 – Hair

"I'll only grow my hair long if you do, too," Wendy says adamantly, and groans despairingly as Nenene shrugs and agrees.

#50 - Supernova

Nenene is doing exactly what she always wanted to do as a little girl; Wendy, not so much, because she never had the grades to be an astronaut.

--

End Notes: Hee, I think Nenene's starting to get mad at me for pairing her with everyone. I still have Nenene/Nancy and possibly Nenene/Lee planned, too. She and Wendy are currently drinking beer with Ron Weasley, Riza Hawkeye, and Elli the Cute Little Nurse to complain about being The Character That Rhianwen Fixates On. And now, if you'll excuse me, my four favourite fictional gals and my favourite fictional guy are getting drunk, and I would like to be there to take advantage of the situation in any way possible. XD


	4. Given the Chance

Drake/Wendy - Epsilon theme set

-------------------------------------------------

#01 – Motion

When he sprang at her, caught her around the waist and dragged her out of the path of a reckless truck, it was a few minutes before she could speak again, partly because all the breath was forced out of her lungs when they landed, partly because he's just come out of nowhere after years of not speaking, and partly because of the shock of seeing him move so fast.

#02 – Cool

It's blazing hot out here today, but you'd never know it to look at her, and he thinks he might admire this cool-as-a-cucumber, perfectly composed demeanour a lot more on her if he didn't know that it came directly from Joker.

#03 – Young

Damned if he'd ever admit it to her, but the day she dragged him to that outdoor rock festival was about the youngest he's felt in years.

#04 – Last

Wendy thought she was over silly girlish romantic fancies, but as Drake leans forward to kiss his new bride, she swears to herself that this is the last man she'll ever wake up with and snuggle while he's still warm and pillow-creased, so maybe not.

#05 – Wrong

_Well, shit,_ Drake protested as Wendy shot him a half-deprecating, half-sympathetic look before trotting back to the convenience store to exchange the "feminine products" he'd bought under heavy protest for a listless and groggy Maggie, _who the hell knew there was more than one kind?_

#06 – Gentle

"I thought you said you were over the klutz thing," he chuckles, bandaging a twisted ankle and kissing it better on impulse, and then laughing and kissing the top of her head when she sticks her tongue out at him.

#07 – One

"Drake, I get tipsy if I have _one_ of those, and I've already had three tonight," she protests half-heartedly as he grins and presses another beer into her hand all the more insistently.

#08 – Thousand

"Good God, how much did Joker pay you?" he mutters, shaking his head as he glances briefly at the effect on the household accounts made by pouring her savings directly into his, and reflecting sourly that it's nice to know that the going rate for a soul is still pretty good these days.

#09 – King

He tries his damndest to teach her to play chess, even though she warns him dubiously that Joker tried and failed, but he keeps getting side-tracked when she acts out famous love scenes with her king and queen.

#10 – Learn

On the bright side, she takes immediately to riding a motorcycle, and earns her Class M license without a hitch.

#11 – Blur

But she still likes riding with him better, arms wrapped around him from behind, cheek at his back, the scenery blurred as much from the vibrations as from the speed as they blaze past.

#12 – Wait

"Good God, Wendy, could you wait until we get home?" he pleads, keeping the car on the road with some difficulty as one slim, surprisingly strong little hand slides up his thigh and works at his belt and zip, and she purrs, slightly slurred, all the things she wants to do tonight.

#13 – Change

"Well, that's just wonderful; now I have to go change," she huffs, stomping away from the kitchen sink and their impromptu waterfight, until Drake's grip on her wrist stops her and he voices a request that she stay with the drenched see-through braless white.

#14 – Command

It might be _convenient_, being married to a girl who sees commands and requests as interchangable and hurries to obey both, but damned if it doesn't make him a little sick to think about how Joker must've gone about training her.

#15 – Hold

He glares at Maggie and her friend as they both grin and _aww_ when a half-asleep, half-drugged Wendy with half a bottle of NyQuil in her system crawls into his arms, snuggles up, and promptly falls asleep.

#16 – Need

"It's not true," he says quietly when he finds her in their room, tearstained and packing, after a particularly tense visit from those Paper Sisters in the city for a job and looking forward to meeting Drake's pretty young wife of three whole months now, only to find a former enemy; "the only way you're going to ruin my life is by leaving."

#17 – Vision

She pouts when he makes her wear safety goggles while they're rebuilding the fence, but she _really_ pouts when he makes fun of his little space invader – especially when he then proceeds to get down to work without putting on his own goggles.

#18 – Attention

When the sixth hour passes with not a peep from the area downstairs where he's set up his pottery wheel, she begins to feel neglected, and makes a point to remove most of her clothes before sashaying over to see what he's up to; and now he's ignoring her because he's mad that she distracted him and made him send what had previously been a really nice jar crashing to the floor.

#19 – Soul

"Hell is for bad people, Kitten; you're a good person who did something really stupid, and I think God knows the difference."

#20 – Picture

Her favourite picture of him is the one she got while they were at the beach and he fell asleep sunbathing; and not just because he was shirtless and glistening a bit with sunscreen and absolutely mouth-watering in general.

#21 – Fool

"You know you're acting like an idiot, right?" he asks coolly when she adamantly refuses to come with him on this job in Tokyo because she knows he'll want to meet up with those girls if at all possible.

#22 – Mad

"For God's sake, Drake, I'm not trying to stop you from visiting your friends, but you're crazy if you think I'm going to go bowing and scraping for grudging forgiveness, because the only one who might offer it is the only one I don't want it from!"

#23 – Child

When he storms out of the house after that, the first time they've fought like this, she's not sure she'll be welcome here when he gets back, too many years of being ignored and rejected and thrown out by the people she loves catch up with her, and after the first hour of waiting by the door, she breaks some pretty things she bought on their honeymoon and then sobs like a heartbroken little girl.

#24 – Now

"Explain this," he orders, dropping her overnight bag on the guest room bed where she's still curled up and staring blankly at the wall, and she understands immediately that she won't be leaving the house, or even the bed, until she's given him an answer.

#25 – Shadow

It's really tempting to throw herself at him and just cry into his shoulder until they both fall asleep, and then pretend that nothing ever happened, but she forces herself upright, and draws on six years of steel spine and emotionless mask to stumble through the worry always in the back of her mind that one of these days, he'll realize that those girls were right, and she was never good enough for him and never will be.

#26 – Goodbye

And there is a goodbye said that night, but it isn't to each other, just to the house for a while because they've decided to go on a little trip of their own before he needs to report for his job in Tokyo.

#27 – Hide

"It'll be okay," he murmurs into her hair as she tenses and adopts a look just like a terrified rabbit ready to bolt, and his hand tightens at her wrist to stop her from diving under the table when they notice Yomiko Readman and Nancy Makuhari at the door of the cafe.

#28 – Fortune

"I think that maybe it's lucky you two found each other again," Yomiko admits slowly, unable to feel any anger or malice towards her adoring little friend of years past when she notices a slim, tanned little paw clasped protectively in Drake's iron-strong grip, "and I think it might mean that we're supposed to be friends again."

#29 – Safe

"There's no way you're going back alone like this," he tells her firmly when he comes back from a trip to the ice machine to find her flushed and feverish, rambling about everything and nothing.

#30 – Ghost

His fingers run gently through sweat-matted hair as she burrows against him to hide from fever-dreams and whimpers into his shoulder that the men she killed are crying for their families and she wishes she was dead too, so she could apologize.

#31 – Book

When he returns from a successful job, and another visit with the girls that she thinks she _might_ like to forgive her, he has a little package, some books that the girls sent along to keep her company until she gets better; a book of fairytales from Michelle, and _Spicy Bedtime Stories For the Modern Woman_ from Yomiko, but chosen with a lot of help from Nancy.

#32 – Eye

Maggie never would have believed it if she hadn't seen it for herself: her dad, her big scary dad who periodically threatens to forego the baseball bat and beat the guys off of her with a pick-axe, reduced to complete meekness and compliance in the matter of her slinky red Christmas dress, by a warning glare from a cute little blonde woman who can probably still shop in the teeny-bopper stores at thirty.

#33 – Never

"Well, at least life with me will never be boring, right?" Wendy points out with a weak smile and pleading eyes as they both bolt for the fire extinguisher to bring her attempt at cooking to an ignominious halt.

#34 – Sing

Even though she's been training herself for years not to care about silly occasions like birthdays, she can't stop a delighted giggle when he emerges from the kitchen after supper singing an embarrassed _happy birthday to you_ with two ice cream sundaes, a single candle stuck haphazardly in one.

#35 – Sudden

When he leaves again and returns with her gift, a beautiful leather jacket – "so you don't have to wear my old one when we go riding" – she leaps at him, snuggling happily away until he gives a shout of pain and pushes her abruptly away as her other gift, hidden carefully in his shirt, digs tiny claws into his chest.

#36 – Stop

"Yeah, okay, it's hilarious," he grumbles good naturedly, scratching the kitten's tiny fuzzy head absently as tears of mirth drip down her flushed cheeks, "now cut it out."

#37 – Time

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he demands quietly, deliberately crowding her as she hangs up her coat after a particularly late night out with some friends, and locks the door behind her.

#38 – Wash

Maybe he overreacted a little, but he knows she doesn't carry that gun in her purse anymore, and the thought of her wandering the city in the dead of night made him frantic; and anyway, he thinks with a grin as a little blonde visitor comes to join him in the shower, it looks like he's forgiven for shouting and menacing and a little bit of manhandling.

#39 – Torn

He's been away for almost two weeks, and as much as he loves having his two favourite girls close to him, laughing and teasing and just being silly together, he's still looking forward to leaving a pile of slightly ripped clothes on the floor of their bedroom and burying himself in her.

#40 – History

Sometimes she's afraid that the only reason he ever bothered with her was his almost legendary weakness for depressed, terrified girls in bad situations - just like Maggie's mother - but the rest of the time, she loves him so much that she doesn't care what started it.

#41 – Power

Sometimes it scares him, how tiny she feels beneath him, how easily he could break those bird-frail little wrists by just gripping too hard, could crush her throat with a too-ardent kiss, could reduce her to a sobbing child with a few well-aimed words; other times, it thrills him as much as it thrills her, and that scares him even more.

#42 – Bother

"Yeah, no problem, Dad, you know you're always welcome here," Drake says reassuringly despite a pained grimace, and with a tiny sigh, Wendy heads upstairs to change out of the silky red negligee she's been skipping around in, because it looks like it won't be tonight, either.

#43 – God

"Do we really have to do this?" she murmurs nervously to him as a kindly old man greets them at the church door with a beaming smile; "God and I haven't been on good terms for a long time now."

#44 – Wall

"Face it, Kitten; you might as well be tackling a brick wall," he chuckles as she bounces harmlessly off of him again.

#45 – Naked

When she exclaims, scandalized, that he can't just walk around the backyard _naked_ like that, he demands to know why, and by the time she comes up with an answer, she's so mesmerized by broad chest and defined arms and legs and...other things, that she's forgotten what the question was.

#46 – Drive

He watches her joyously maneuver the gorgeous muscle-car she begged the salesman to let her test drive when they saw it on the lot and both fell in love, and shakes his head: "You know I'd never live it down if the guys ever found out my wife's a better driver than I am, right?"

#47 – Harm

It's kind of too bad, he thinks as she sits up dizzily after a tumble off the roof and reassures him that she's okay, that despite his greatest efforts to protect her, the greatest danger she's ever in is from her own clumsiness making a triumphant return in careless or stressful moments.

#48 – Precious

She wouldn't wish a flu like this on anyone, of course, and least of all him, but she hardly ever gets the chance to baby and protect _him_ for a change, and she likes fetching him drinks and soup, and fluffing his pillows, and pressing cool cloths to his forehead, and singing to him, and climbing into bed and cradling him like a beloved child.

#49 – Hunger

And anyway, when he starts recovering of almost a week flat on his back in bed, he's so hungry that even her cooking tastes good, and there's something about watching someone actually _enjoy_ something she made that makes her almost want to learn to do it well.

#50 – Believe

It's taken a long time, but they've finally managed to really let go of those secret, stupid fears: he doesn't worry about her running back to England the second Joker calls for her, and she doesn't worry about him waking up one day and realizing that he's really far too good for her; and both of them think, grumblingly fond, _it's about time_.

-------------------------------------------

End Notes: Ohh, this one was fun! I've got so many adorable little moments featuring these two bouncing around in my head, but it's hard to write a whole story about some of them, so this was the perfect opportunity to share 'em with the world! XD

I'm reasonably certain that I'm going to do at least one more theme set with these two, but I promise that it won't be until I've done some more with...other, more popular characters.


	5. Just Like Breathing

Anita x Hisami – Gamma theme set

------------------------------------------------------------

#01 – Ring

Hisami knows that it's just because Anita hardly ever calls when they haven't planned to talk, but she still likes to think that she can tell the difference between the way the phone rings when anyone else is calling, and when it's her _kindred spirit_.

#02 – Hero

Everyone else has given her their blessing to tell Hisami all about everything that happened with the British Library because, as Michelle said gravely, it's not the sort of thing she should keep secret from such a close friend; but it kind of feels like bragging, and a bragging _hero's_ just as bad as a bragging _villain_.

#03 – Memory

Her sisters are the most important people in her life, and always will be, but she _knows _that all her memories with Hisami are her own, and it's kind of nice, knowing that she can actually make friends like that on her own.

#04 – Box

"You know, you could each move half of the boxes for her," Junior suggested, only to receive two scathing glares, because neither Anita nor Tohru particularly wanted to admit that they were _fighting_ over Hisami.

#05 – Run

"You should keep moving, Hisa," Anita urged, forehead wrinkled worriedly, trying to drag her friend up off the park bench following a longer-than-usual jog, and already kicking herself for pushing her too hard, "or you're going to be really, really sore tomorrow."

#06 – Hurricane

"Geez, good thing it didn't start raining _before_ you came over," Anita says fervently when Michelle announces that there's no way Hisami can leave until the storm passes, and it's supposed to last all night; and now her sisters and Nenene are grinning, and two little girls are blushing furiously.

#07 – Wings

Hisami has read lots of different things about what it feels like to l—like someone: she's heard that it feels like your heart has wings, beautiful feathery wings like a dove; she's heard that it feels like you've just _swallowed_ a dove, and its wings are beating wildly at your stomach; but neither of these really describes the feeling she gets when Anita is around – like everything in the world has just gone right.

#08 - Cold

"It's only a cold, Anita," Hisami says, sweetly exasperated, when Anita, who stopped off on the way home from school to visit, is still flitting uneasily around after ten minutes; "I'm not going to break in half."

#09 – Red

Today, Hisa has her hair kind of down, but kind of half up, tied with a deep red velvet ribbon; and Anita's having a hard time keeping her eyes forward in class, because Hisa looks _really, really good_ in red, even if it's only a little bit.

#10 – Drink

The best part of watching Anita completely trounce Tohru in a milk-drinking contest is her half-sheepish, half-proud little grin when all the girls clap, and the milk mustache she sometimes forgets to wipe off.

#11 – Midnight

When she finds Hisa ready to drop off to sleep right in class, and finds out that she was awake well past midnight because she just couldn't fall asleep, Anita thinks of Nenene stomping around her room upstairs and wonders if it's an _author thing_.

#12 – Temptation

Anita knows very well that too much chocolate cake and she'll feel like hell later with a stomach ache that could kill an elephant, but the giant, gooey piece Hisa brought to share at lunch, combined with that smile, is chipping away at her resistance to temptation.

#13 – View

She's travelled all over the world with her sisters, and most of it wasn't all that great; so when Hisami asks, eyes sparkling, if she'll come with her someday to see faraway places, Anita's surprised to feel a little flicker of excitement at the thought.

#14 – Music

"Hey, I told you I couldn't sing," Anita mutters grumpily, bright red, amid the good-natured giggles of the other girls who have _finally_ seen something she's not good at; Hisami gives her hand a little squeeze, unable to stop beaming at the loudly bellowed Happy Birthdays, even if Anita was so far out of key that she nearly invented her own.

#15 – Silk

Of _course_ it had to be Nenene who came in first, to the curious sight of Anita rubbing one hand slowly over the tiny curve of her best friend's hips, and no matter how much they tried to explain that Hisa's uncle gave her this pretty yellow silk dress for her birthday and she wanted Anita to feel how nice and…_silky_ it was, Nenene just kept grinning.

#16 – Cover

Anita's never tried to ask her about the time she and Tohru spent _going out_, and even though she would kind of like to talk about it and make sure Anita isn't mad at her, it's just easier to push it off to the back of her mind and bury it beneath other things.

#17 – Promise

"It's not like last time we left, I swear," Anita protests hurriedly, internally kicking herself as Hisami's expression grows alarmed and her eyes start to look a little wobbly; "It's just a visit with some friends, and we'll be back in a couple weeks."

#18 – Dream

Summer vacations have typically been miserable for Hisami, because last year, Anita moved away back to Hong Kong in the last week of school, and this year she'll be gone again; but it's not as lonely as it usually is, because whenever she feels lonely, she can relive in daydreams the shy, fleeting peck Anita gave her before turning almost purple and snarling at her eldest sister to stop _aww_ing.

#19 – Candle

But even better than reliving a daydream is when Anita comes back, with a great big box of aromatherapy candles – _to burn while you take a nice, relaxing bubble bath and enjoy your favourite book,_ Michelle adds to her little sister's mortification – and they have the rest of the summer stretching out in front of them to spend together.

#20 – Talent

"Y-you're good at this," Anita observes, a little short on breath and with the faintest sense that she probably sounds like an idiot, when a second kiss turns into a third and fourth and fifth and more before either of them can figure out how it happened.

#21 – Silence

Hisami still thinks sometimes that Anita deserves to know all about the delirious two weeks that she was _sure_ she was in love with Tohru; Anita still thinks sometimes that Hisami's worrying about it and deserves to know _why_ she fell madly in love with a boy like a brother to her; but neither of them wants to bring it up, so they just rely on smiles and wordless understanding to know that everything is okay.

#22 – Journey

"I really hate traveling," a jet-lagged Anita grumbles around a jaw-popping yawn after a trip to Russia for a job, and Hisami rubs her back gently, sympathetic despite her own wistful longing to see the world someday.

#23 – Fire

Hisami thinks that Anita has _the perfect redhead temperament_, all infectious energy and fire to warm everyone around her, even if Anita's hair is more _pink_ than _red_.

#24 – Strength

When Anita finds out who exactly this _new wife_ that Drake's been telling them about in letters for months now is, bounds down the stairs at her gruff American pal's laugh to find that woman who raised Junior like a potted plant hiding behind a protective wall of husband, her first instinct is to blow up and yell at everyone in the room; and she can't help but sigh, because she thinks that Hisa would probably be strong enough to forgive.

#25 – Mask

When Tohru and Junior sneak up behind them and pounce, Tohru growling and shouting and Junior just sort of sheepishly muttering behind those grisly monster masks, Anita pops them both in the head for scaring Hisa, even though the madly giggling dark-haired girl doesn't seem particularly scared.

#26 – Ice

"Hey, I told you it was a dumb idea to start a snowball fight with Anita," Tohru tells his dazed, snow-covered friends inexorably as they stagger – quickly – away from two fourteen-year old girls, one wringing the snow out of her hair and one glaring fiercely enough to _melt_ the snow; "But hitting _Hisami_ was _really _dumb."

#27 – Fall

"Geez, I'm glad _I'll_ never have to worry about all that crap," Anita comments, shaking her head at Drake's half-sheepish, half-proud story about how people act like idiots when they're in falling in love; and now Drake and Wendy are exchanging these _just you wait_ looks, but Anita knows they just don't _understand_: she'll never have to _fall_ in love, because she's already there, and has been since she met Hisa.

#28 – Forgotten

Maybe it was a bad idea to ask for two straws and share a milkshake; it only took going for their straws at the same time and accidentally brushing each other's lips once for the milkshake to be completely forgotten.

#29 – Dance

"I _knew_ you'd be better at it than me in no time!" Hisami declares, laughing delightedly as her _student_ swings her effortlessly through complex variations on simple dance steps; and it occurs to her that Anita's only getting practice _leading_, but neither of them really cares all that much.

#30 – Body

And in return for the dance lessons, Anita's been giving Hisami some tips on self-defense – mostly because she still doesn't trust that all her enemies are gone for good and that they won't try to use her more-than-best-friend against her at some point, but just a little bit because Hisa looks _really cute_ in her gym clothes.

#31 – Sacred

It started with Anita started taking Hisami through the different stances, helping her position her arms and legs, but they somehow got derailed, and it was the first time they had ever done more than kiss; it was also the first time Hisami had ever seen Anita look like that, hands trembling and eyes reverent, and she didn't know whether to be thrilled or terrified, and just ended up _both_.

#32 – Farewells

Maybe it's silly to be planning out the rest of their lives together when they're barely fifteen, but her last few waking moments each night find Hisami decorating their _house of dreams_ – a _big_ house of dreams, because they're all going to live together, her and Anita and Anita's sisters and Miss Sumiregawa, so Anita will never have to say goodbye to the people who love her.

#33 – World

Michelle has tried to warn Anita once or twice that hardly anyone in the world falls in love and stays that way forever, but Anita just shrugged; obviously, _those_ people didn't have someone like Hisa.

#34 – Formal

Natsume made Tohru get down on one knee to ask her before she'd go on a movie-date with him, and Hisami thought it was a little silly; but she still blushed and giggled when Anita assumed the same pose, hands over her heart, and asked in an overly dramatic voice if she wanted any help in the library tonight.

#35 – Fever

"Geez, Hisa, who knew you could be this bossy?" Anita mutters weakly as her best friend drags her upstairs and puts her to bed with cool compresses and fever reducers and ice water; but Hisami knows from her friend's half-hearted grin that she's happy with her self-appointed nurse.

#36 – Laugh

Hisami's aunt and uncle don't particularly like when Anita comes over, because even _a well-behaved girl like Hisami_ can be _so_ noisy when she has friends to visit; Michelle can't understand it, because the sound of their mingled laughter, as happy as she's always loved to see the people she loves, is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world.

#37 – Lies

"You know, Anita, _some_ lies can be good things," Hisami said sternly, her cheeks nevertheless a little pink with a guilty blush, when her best friend started blustering in good earnest that she'd _known_ about Michelle and Maggie's plans for a surprise Sweet Sixteen party all along, and never _said_ anything about it.

#38 – Forever

"Well, it couldn't stay on the Bestseller list _forever_, you know," the little dark-haired authoress shrugged philosophically on the day that her newest book is bumped from the top spot, much to the deep irritation of her best friend, who looks up swiftly: "Why the hell not, if it's the best book out there?"

#39 – Overwhelmed

As a general rule, Anita hates shopping, but she hates swimsuit shopping especially; so when she and Hisa end up sharing a changing room to save time, she's torn between the desire to run her fingers lightly down Hisa's arms the way she likes best, and the desire to _get this over with_.

#40 – Whisper

"Do you think you can be quiet?" Hisami asks on a whisper, eyes alight with mischief, before pulling the sensible little blue one-piece away from Anita's beautiful soft pale skin and kissing gentle trails over everything as it's revealed.

#41 – Wait

Maggie always says that _good things come to those who wait_, but Anita reflects, fighting a telltale grin as they go to pay for their new swimsuits, that it's kind of nice to know that impatient people like her get...um, _really_ good things every now and again, too.

#42 – Talk

To someone who didn't know them very well, Nenene reflects with an expression , it'd come as a shock to hear Hisami, shy and quiet and thoughtful, and Anita, who doesn't like to _waste words_, chattering on the phone for close to an hour every night.

#43 – Search

She can still remember this one time, three or four years ago, when she and Hisa helped Nenene look for a reference book she needed; Hisa found the book in less than ten minutes, and when asked _how_, blinked and said that the book had _told_ her where it was; and when she thought about it, Anita had to admit that it made perfect sense, and thought with a shake of her head and a chuckle that _maybe_ she could understand where her sisters were coming from.

#44 – Hope

When they see those pretty, delicate, ornate little rings twisted into a series of complex knots, like a friendship bracelet, they exchange delighted smiles, buy them without hesitation, and exchange _promise rings_ with the intent of wearing them to the grave.

#45 – Eclipse

When she first met Anita, the parrallels betwen _Anne and Diana_ and _Anita and Hisami_ seemed almost uncanny, but it's been a long time since she's thought of Anita as _her_ Anne.

#46 – Gravity

"It's a lot more than _cute_, Michelle," Anita grumbles when her eldest sister giggles adoringly over the promise rings; "I bet you wouldn't call Maggie and Nenene _so cute_;" and all the wind is taken abruptly out of her indignant sails when Michelle announces that of _course_ Maggie and Nenene are cute, and just where has she_ been_ all this time?

#47 – Highway

Hisami has this crazy idea about back-packing all over Europe after they graduate, while Anita thinks they should just get university over with and _then_ have fun; so to compromise, they decide that they'll just backpack to university.

#48 – Unknown

She has no idea what it'll be like, being away from Maggie and Michelle for a whole year for the first time since they found her - and they _did_, no matter what that _jerk_ said - but it's a lot easier to face the idea when she remembers that she and Hisa lucked out and ended up roommates after all.

#49 – Lock

Anita's about to remind Hisa sternly that she _has_ to lock to the door when she's alone in their room, but just as she takes a breath to do it, Hisa greets her with a sweetly beaming _welcome home_, and then an equally sweetly stern _please remember to take your key the next time you go out, okay, Anita?_

#50 – Breathe

She remembers telling Junior, years ago, that _having family is hard to get used to, but once you do they're just like air_, and she still thinks so; it's just that her idea of what her _family _is has exanded, until there's probably enough people she needs in her life to keep breathing, to fill a school bus.

------------------------------------------------------

End Notes: Heeeeeeeeeee! So much sugary sappiness! Oh, crap, I forgot the Am-Not-Responsible-For-Loosened-Fillings-or-Cavities waivers. Eheh... Right-o; dental work's on me.XD

Anyway, there's so much about these two that's just amazingly fun to play with, so I hope this did them some kind of justice. So...cute...


	6. In Hope of a Better Day

In Hope of a Better Day

--------------------------------------------------------------

Summary: Her mother didn't raise her to be the sort of girl who was out the door the minute things got difficult, so whatever he has to go through until things get better, she'll go through it with him.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Pairing: Joker/Wendy

Theme Set: Alpha

Timeline: From Mid-OAV to Post-TV series

---------------------------------------------------------------

#01 – Comfort

It doesn't matter especially whether or not the soothing reassurances he murmurs into her hair are true or not, as long as they make her stop crying; because her eyes are still lovely drowned with sorrow, but he prefers them shining softly with joy and contentment.

#02 – Kiss

When she leaned over and kissed him swiftly good night this evening, the first time she's even hinted at what he's begun to suspect, he was too stunned to scold her for it, and he's glad, because already his mind is working to justify how taking her for a lover might increase her dedication to their work.

#03 – Soft

As the older and wiser friend, Karen feels it her duty to pass on a piece of advice to her sweet little Wendy-bird, twenty-two and still terribly naïve: _Never trust a man with softer hands than yours._

#04 – Pain

And Wendy replies gravely that she doesn't trust him, she isn't that silly, but that doesn't stop her from loving him, no matter how much it hurts to love someone you know you can't trust.

#05 – Potatoes

"I thought you didn't like these," she calls over her shoulder when a quick rummage of his kitchen cabinets sends a bag of salt-and-vinnegar flavoured crisps bouncing off her head, and he smiles gently: "No, but you do."

#06 – Rain

He meant to wait and let her approach him when she wanted more than chaste little kisses, but when she materializes at his doorstep, flushed and laughing and soaked from a walk in the rain, the plan changes; and it's just as well that she's endearingly eager, because even shrill, terrified protests couldn't stop him from peeling those drenched clothes away and warming her chilled skin with his own.

#07 – Chocolate

The only way she's getting through the days right now, with all this overtime and not sleeping at night because she can't really believe that it's okay to take away a woman's baby, is the combination of Mr. Joker's smiles and the box of chocolate-covered espresso beans in her desk.

#08 – Happiness

It takes a lot of prodding, but Wendy finally admits that Mr. Joker gave her those long, jagged red marks over her back; and when she goes to sleep smiling anyway because Mr. Joker also cleaned and bandaged and kissed them better, Karen thinks wearily that Wendy's idea of kindness is becoming very skewed.

#09 – Telephone

When he hears her light, quick footsteps at the door an hour later than usual, he doesn't even look up, focuses his attention entirely on his work; even though he keeps very few secrets from her, he'd never dream of telling her that he's been watching the telephone for the past twenty minutes, waiting for word that she'd been killed in a traffic accident.

#10 – Ears

"It makes my ears look big," she announces grumpily, attempting to glower at her shorn hair, and he laughs and brushes a kiss to the back of her neck, smiling as she shivers.

#11 – Name

She thinks it's awfully funny, but just a little sad as well, that he doesn't even react when someone calls him _Joseph_, because he's been _Joker_ for so long.

#12 – Sensual

It still surprises him each time he, who values skill and experience above all, feels his body respond swiftly to her touch, hesitant, curious, uncertain, but very sweet – because he's never been fond of sweets, either.

#13 – Death

She wonders why he only seems to grieve for those killed in the fire when there's someone around to see; then she begins to wonder if that's the extent of his regard for everyone, if grief is a matter of convenience and love doubly so, and now she's crying even harder and he's murmuring soothing lies into her hair.

#14 – Sex

As it turns out, he was right before when he suspected that her protests might not be sufficient reason to stop from pushing her clothes gently aside and pressing her roughly into the pretty yellow and pink comforter of her own little bed, swallowing her tears and pleading little yelps, _please not tonight_ and _please let me up_, with a demanding kiss, legs tangling around hers and one hand at her wrists to keep her from _squirming_ like that.

#15 – Touch

But it's only so long before a timid apology brushes at his ear, in time with a timid touch at his shoulder, and all is forgiven, even though he isn't sure that he deserves to forgive; because unpleasant necessity is still unpleasant, which is why he's been putting it off, explaining to her that they're no longer in the situation for sugar-sweet romance, and this gentleness with her will have to stop if he expects her to grow.

#16 – Weakness

She listens gravely and understands immediately, very grateful that he didn't give her a choice to stay or go, with the Special Operations unit and with him, because she's still young and weak and would have left; the idea doesn't even occur to her, still young and gullible too, that it's his weakness he's considering, unable to let her go.

#17 – Tears

Perhaps he's learning from her, too; her adaptable nature, at least, seems to be rubbing off, because when he finally realized that soothing lies wouldn't stop her tears anymore, he learned to appreciate the beauty in those gleaming tracks down her cheeks, and in the sensation that she'll put herself through such pain because he asks.

#18 – Speed

When he asks impatiently if she plans to approach the speed limit at any point, she smiles very pleasantly: _Yes, Sir, when you put me on your insurance policy so that I'm not driving a vehicle that costs more than my last three, my flat, and five years of college combined and doubled, completely uninsured, I'll speed up._

#19 – Wind

When a strong gust of wind comes up, and he grumbles with the effort of trying to keep his tie and jacket under control, he hears a little giggle to his right, and thinks in annoyance that she has a long way to go; and then, when he chances to see the impish little smile to go with that laugh, he wonders ruefully if he really wants her there.

#20 – Freedom

She doesn't know why it's so hard to understand, preferring security to freedom; but the people who have called them _mad_ for their attempts to keep Mr. Gentleman alive forever, and her friends who regularly call her _abused_ because Joker makes decisions for her, just _don't get it_.

#21 – Life

He doesn't plan to tell her, until she's gotten used to it, that he plans to keep little Junior, seven months old last week, with her until he's old enough to begin training, because when she looked after Marianne's puppy, she spent the entire week panicking because _it's such a responsibility, having a life in your care like this!  
_  
#22 – Jealousy

The tiny infant cuddled in her arms paws at the front of her blouse because he's still new to this whole bottle business, and she giggles, catches one soft, tiny hand, and presses an impulsive little kiss to the palm; and Joker makes a mental note to send the baby home with Alex sometime soon and take the little golden-haired babysitter home with him.

#23 – Hands

When Joker picks up a little box on her bedside table, boasting three speeds and multiple attachments, Wendy goes immediately bright red and stumbles through an explanation that it was a gift from her friend, and Sylvie's always been a dirty-minded man-hater, and he waves it off with a simple question: "What on earth does she think your hands are for – or for that matter, _my_ hands?"

#24 – Taste

A large part of taste is smell, so when he spends an entire evening trying to banish that achingly familiar spicy-sweet scent from his mind, it only makes sense that it should end with him shoving her roughly into the wall of her flat, lips crushed to her throat, nipping sharply, urged on by the taste of her skin and the taste of her trembling gasps and cries.

#25 – Devotion

"I don't think she deserves such a dear, loyal friend," he murmurs in response, soft and gentle and lethal, when she wonders aloud if Yomiko is alright.

#26 – Forever

She can't quite wrap her mind around it, how they'll still be alive after Gentleman's return, but they won't know it, so in effect, the world will end; and when the thought occurs to her that maybe that's the only reason he's bothering with her, she has to sit down because she can't breathe.

#27 – Blood

When she returns from her first physical combat training session with a friend of his, she's bruised and bleeding and happier than he's seen her in months; the next day, she finds that her lessons have been discontinued.

#28 – Melody

Normally, he only has to ask her once to stop singing quietly to herself while she works – because it hardly gives off a very professional image – but the Christmas season is different, and for a month, he listens, shaking his head and trying not to smile, as all her favourite carols drift back towards him in a clear, sweet voice that hasn't been heard much recently.

#29 – Sickness

"It doesn't matter that you don't have time to be sick, Mr. Joker," she tells him adamantly, fluffing up his pillows and tucking the covers snugly around him, "because you _are_, and you're not going back to work until you're feeling better."

#30 – Star

He can't help but smile when he finds her at the window, gently bouncing a one-year old Junior and singing a very soft _twinkle-twinkle_, and he thinks that it's a good thing she's getting these absurd maternal urges out of her system.

#31 – Home

Normally, when she gets homesick like this, she looks at old photos, but she can't now, because he mercilessly termed all her old albums _unnecessary clutter_ and sent them to the trash bin along with all her old comic books and science fiction novels.

#32 – Confusion

He knew it would confuse her at first, how this solemn-eyed, silver-haired little boy at his side and the almost-toddler she's been gradually learning to care for can possibly be one in the same after only a week, but he hardly expected her to turn pale and sick and shout at him through her locked bedroom door to _leave the little boy, but go away_.

#33 – Fear

But at least, since she's already looking at him as though he's the stuff of nightmares, he feels no reluctance in letting his voice grow threatening, letting his hand tighten in her hair until she gives a pained squeak as he explains why her behaviour is _not acceptable_.

#34 – Thunder/Lightning

"Wendy, I've asked you to take care of him, not spoil him," he reminds her severely, gently halting her attempts to climb out from under the covers, when she asks worriedly if he thinks Junior is alright by himself, with the terrible storm raging outside; "I don't know that boys like to be coddled like that anyway."

#35 – Bonds

Sometimes, she thinks his creativity nears _madness_, but other times, she loves it even if it does; like tonight, in the coat room, he made short work of her nylons and used them to bind her wrists to the rod overhead; and he almost had to gag her too, because he's as _skilled_ as he is _creative_ and _mad_.

#36 – Market

"Honestly, Sir, you ought to have gone into advertising," she mutters to him when he manages to effortlessly talk another important official onto his side, and he smiles down at her: "That was the plan, until this opportunity opened up."

#37 – Technology

"It's for Junior," she tells him hastily when he looks down at the little hand-held game system and cartridge, and then at her questionigly; "He was asking the other day if we could get a dog, but the building won't allow pets, so a virtual pet is the best we can do."

#38 – Gift

He hides a smile, and neglects to mention that those _pretty pearl beads_ she's thanking him delightedly for are quite real, and appraised at approximately the price of her car.

#39 – Smile

She can never decide from one time to the next if that smile in the picture of him that he probably doesn't know she still has is _kind_ or _predatory _or _smug_ or _what_.

#40 – Innocence

"I can't help but think that if I was really a good person in the first place, I'd still have some innocence left no matter _what_ I'd seen," she sighs mournfully, and he pulls her back into a tight embrace: "You're confusing innocence and pure stupidity again, Wendy."

#41 – Completion

"Mr. Carpenter!" she protests when she emerges from her room, dressed and ready for some ghastly dull function, in time to see him settle one last book onto a sizeable stack, with a long-suffering expression; "I didn't take that long!"

#42 – Clouds

"Well, Wendy, do you know of any last-minute caterers we could call?" he asks very calmly as she waves frantically to dispel a cloud of thick smoke that their joint efforts at cookery have generated; and there's a nice old man down the street that can help them, but it's still irritating, because Junior _tried_ to warn him that the oven was turned up too high.

#43 – Sky

The idea was to take an intense fear of heights and turn them into an equally intense aphrodisiac for her – because then, at least, she might not spend their many, many plane trips white-knuckled and shaking – but it seems that all he accomplished with that silly stunt in the hot air balloon was giving her nightmares.

#44 – Heaven

"If we had succeeded," he laments after months have passed since the ruin of his life's work and she's allowed to talk to him about it, "we wouldn't have needed Heaven because we would have created something better."

#45 – Hell

And she doesn't say it aloud because she knows better, but she strongly suspects that, if they had succeeded, they would have had a lifetime of Heaven on earth, and then an eternity in Hell to atone for meddling with things that people weren't meant to control.

#46 – Sun

He's paying for it now, in the form of a terrible dizzy pounding headache from hours in the blazing sun, but at the time he just couldn't tear himself away from the sight of his little housemate poking about in the dirt to establish a nice garden, clad only in tiny denim shorts and a nearly transparent white cotton undershirt.

#47 – Moon

The only time they really feel safe leaving the house is at night, but those moonlight walks she's been dragging him out for to strengthen his bad knee are so beautiful that she thinks she would gladly go through all of it again, just for this.

#48 – Waves

His words and tone aren't exactly _threatening_, when he asks how she knows the young man who passed with a friendly grin and a wave, but she knows nevertheless to step carefully.

#49 – Hair

"You might as well leave it long," he announces indifferently, toying with the long silky mass brushing over his arm; "It doesn't look as unkempt as I remember it, and you certainly don't want me to cut it."

#50 – Supernova

It annoys her, when people describe her as Joker's _pretty loyal little follower_, because she's not, they're followers together of a far greater man whose now-permanent absence forced them, and many others, to finally wake up.

-----------------------------------------------------------

End Notes: Addict that I am, I'm probably going to do all five theme sets with these two. And so, I apologize in advance. XD


	7. A Working Relationship

Title: A Working Relationship

Pairing: Joker x Wendy

Theme Set: Beta

Timeline: Pre-OAV, mildly AUish.

------------------------------------------------------

#01 – Walking

_She's a child yet_, he reminds himself sternly against the gritting of his own teeth when his personal assistant, newly twenty and yet to make it through her first day, gives another dismayed yelp when her shoe catches on a stray pile of books and sends her tumbling to the floor.

#02 – Waltz

But he's had a good deal of hope for Miss Wendy, Stephen Earhart's little girl, since her father brought her to the last Christmas party, and she went from stumbling in her unmercifully high-heeled sandals to following Elias through an effortless waltz; clearly, proper guidance can make something more of her than a pretty child.

#03 – Wishes

Ordinarily, she tells the other girls seriously after her first week, she likes Mr. Joker quite well; it's only sometimes, when finds herself smarting under the pain of bruised, scraped knees _and_ his half-amused, half-disgusted expression, that she wishes fervently he would fall down the stairs, just once, and break his nose.

#04 – Wonder

Sometimes, he wonders briefly what her reaction would be if she knew how much time he spent pondering what that lanky, leggy little figure of hers must look like underneath prim black skirts and ugly vests; the rest of the time, her _feminine modesty _doesn't matter a bit.

#05 – Worry

No matter what Karen tells her, it _is_ a problem, waking up breathless and drenched from inappropriate dreams about your boss; it just seems so horribly invasive of his privacy to imagine things like that, and she wonders what sort of person it makes her.

#06 – Whimsy

He has little use for such silliness, but he has to admit, when he drops by Halloween evening to find her in a few shreds of leaf-green lace and shimmery wings, that she makes an appealing little fairy – especially with that expression of wide-eyed horror and the deep flush creeping into her cheeks when she opens the door, sweets in hand.

#07 - Waste/Wasteland

The first time he invited her to join him for a cup of the steaming hot tea she brought in before trudging back to mountains of paperwork, she blushed, and stammered, and maybe fell just a little bit in love; when he added that she'd made too much and he didn't want to endure the horror of lukewarm or warmed over tea, she pouted.

#08 - Whiskey and rum

"You're the one who insisted on the Whisky Macs to shake off this cold in the first place, Wendy," he reminds her sternly through a badly clogged nose, hurrying on before she can protest that she meant _one_, not _four_; "Now, drink your silly rum thing."

#09 – War

She's just come back from a lunch date that didn't happen because bloody _Ian_ couldn't be arsed to show up, so when Mr. Joker sits there, just _waiting _for her to trip over some of his clutter before starting in about how it's _disgraceful _for a grown woman to be so _awkward_, she shoots back without thinking that it's _equally_ disgraceful, then, for a grown _man_ to leave his office looking like a war zone.

#10 – Weddings

"Mr. Joker, that's more than I plan to spend on my own _wedding_ dress!" she protests frantically when he carefully selects and hands her a little frock of pale blue silk – with a little white bow at the skirt, of course, because he has no use for girls who try to dress beyond their own age.

#11 – Birthday

"You have a birthday coming up, don't you?" he asks carelessly, already shoving her gently toward the dressing rooms despite her squeaks and sputters; "I'll need you at this dinner, and you can't come in one of your mother's cast-off skirt suits – or your little fairy costume – so why don't we call this an early gift?"

#12 – Blessing

When someone asks in a conspiratorial mutter if it isn't awfully _inconvenient _to have a silly _child_ following him around at all times, he replies coolly, a flushed, adoring Wendy at his elbow, that she's been a blessing to their unit, and it's rather a nice change to have an employee that _works_ for their pay.

#13 – Bias

"I don't think he said it because he likes staring at your bottom, Wendy," Yomiko finally says, after deep consideration, when the little blonde relates the bizarre exchange during a visit following a mission; "But…isn't that a good thing?" she adds, bewildered, when this only causes the younger girl to droop with visible disappointment.

#14 – Burning

It was one thing to just have _naughty_ dreams about him, but this, waking up burning with something more potent than lust, from a dream of his arms around her warm and protective, is something else entirely, and she's bloody sure she doesn't like it.

#15 – Breathing

There was no one around to see him sprinting down the stairs after her, muttering frantic pleas the whole way down that he might find her still breathing, that his prediction hasn't come true and her clumsiness _been the death of her_; but now that he thinks about it, thinks how it might have _looked_, it worries him that it never occurred to him to check for onlookers.

#16 – Breaking

It worries him far more, though, the hairline cracks he can feel spreading through his resolve to _never touch her_, each time her shoe catches on something and sends her toppling to the ground, that shapely little backside on excellent display.

#17 – Belief

She knows that his only belief is in _the power of human potential_, and even though people are still good and kind in her world, she thinks _his_ world must be a depressing place; but they have a system now – she never tells him when she prays for him, and he never tells her that he loves her all the more for her faith and her prayers.

#18 – Balloon

There was something about Mr. Joker's glare at her _Just Because_ balloon from the nice boy in her building she's been out with a few times, that makes her not mind _so_ much when he _accidentally_ jabs it violently with a pen and pops it.

#19 – Balcony

She's over to learn the _right_ way to water his plants while he's away, but she's gotten distracted by the big, gorgeous balcony – _it's lovely out here, and he's never even home to enjoy it –_ and the view of the sunset – _I'll bet the sunrise is even nicer –_ and now by his arms crushing her close and his lips on hers.

#20 – Bane

"We'll talk about this when I get back," he tells her coolly before shoving her out the door to walk home, and for the next two weeks, the promise of that conversation looms in both their minds.

#21 – Quiet

"You're awfully quiet today," he observes with a kind smile on his first day back, and as an extra kindness, doesn't point out that she's also far clumsier than usual, and watching him with eyes wide and panicked as a spooked woodland creature.

#22 – Quirks

That night, while lying awake and trying to will away the effects of the several warm, ecstatic kisses he received before he pushed her gently out of his lap and took her home, he makes a mental checklist of which charming little quirks are generally harmless, and which ones will have to go before she can be taken seriously.

#23 – Question

"But when is he going to _shag_ me?!" the little blonde wails when Yomiko points out happily that she's never seen Mr. Joker in such a good mood, and he clearly loves her very much; and now both girls are bright red under the curious, amused eyes of the entire coffee shop.

#24 – Quarrel

It was _supposed_ to be for her own good, waiting a little while before moving beyond goodnight kisses and little smiles; but for his own part, he has absolutely no quarrel with it when she corners him in his office, after everyone else has gone home, tries to shove him down on his desk, fails miserably, and starts tugging eagerly at his clothes.

#25 – Quitting

"I don't see why that's necessary," Mr. Gentleman says meditatively in response to Joker's clipped, embarrassed assurance that he'll have her transferred to another unit by the end of the week; "Be realistic, Joker - training a new assistant to read your mind would be far more trouble for all of us than a romantic entanglement with the one you've got."

#26 – Jump

When he finds her half climbing out her third floor flat's largest window, trying to scrub off a winter's worth of dirt, he approaches very quietly – because with her soapy hands and precarious position, startling her could be fatal – catches her by the waist, drags her back inside, and shouts at her for doing something so _dangerous_.

#27 – Jester

"Mr. Joker, if I can make it through an entire day without tripping over anything, will you tell me if your name has anything to do with clowns?"

#28 – Jousting

"Perhaps you ought to consider a safer sport, Wendy," he suggests hastily at her dreamy, slightly slurred comment that jousting must be _awfully_ exciting; "How about chess?"

#29 – Jewel

It's around his birthday that he starts to worry that Mr. Gentleman's twinkling, amused suspicion is true, and his pretty, golden-haired lover is gaining more influence over him than he'd like, when he looks from the ridiculous rhinestone-studded cufflinks, to her hopeful, beaming smile, and clips them in place without a word.

#30 – Just

"I think you ought to be fair, Wendy – the braids certainly don't make you look _older_, and I've heard my age advanced by a decade or two before," he told her soothingly around twitching lips as she stomped the rest of the way to the park because a kindly old lady just told Mr. Joker that his _daughter_ is _such _a pretty girl.

#31 – Smirk

"Well, he certainly won't do it again, will he?" Joker points out with a little smirk when Wendy exclaims, horrified, that _accidentally_ dumping scalding hot tea in the man's lap, just because the balding old goat implied mean things about her and how she came to have such a good job, was a severe overreaction.

#32 – Sorrow

When he found out that she came into work today despite a phonecall late last night about her mother, he ordered her home; when she begged him, voice shaking and lashes teardamp, to let her stay because she couldn't bear to be alone, he drove her himself, then spent the night sitting up with her until she fell into an exhausted, uneasy sleep.

#33 – Stupidity

Wendy swears up and down to the other girls at work, and to Yomiko, and even to that Miss Sumiregawa that Yomiko's so close with, that Mr. Joker never _tries_ to make her feel stupid – it just _happens_ sometimes, because he's so _smart_.

#34 – Serenade

"You might have _warned_ me that we'd be serenaded this morning, Wendy," he grumbles amid the wild giggling of the little barely-clad, pillow-creased blonde at his side and the joyous song of an entire flock of birds just outside her bedroom window; "I'd have brought a rifle."

#35 – Sarcasm

Sometimes, it takes him a few stunned moments of wondering if anyone can really be _that _naïve, to recall that his Wendy actually has quite a strong grasp on the concept of sarcasm.

#36 – Sordid

It was bound to happen: the extra spice of excitement thrown into the pot by the necessity of _secrecy_ has started to wear off, leaving her feeling cheap, tawdry, and ridiculous.

#37 – Soliloquy

And she manages to keep it to herself fairly well, this needling discontentment and humiliation, until he shows up unexpectedly at her flat in the middle of her impromptu _drinking session_, and caught off-guard, she lets everything out in one angry burst, concluding by flinging a neatly-typed request for transfer at him.

#38 – Sojourn

"I'm afraid that won't be feasible; I don't relish the idea of my wife scurrying to fulfill another man's every whim," he says gravely, and then smiles and sends her to pack for a weekend by the shore – if anyone asks why his bride-to-be is tearstained and reeking of liquor, he'll just say that she didn't like the wedding dress he chose for her.

#39 – Share

Sharing his flat with her is a minor adjustment – because they've already spent the last several years in far closer quarters – but her cats are a different matter, and it takes all her wide-eyed pleading to stop him from sending one flying out the window.

#40 – Solitary

So, to make it up to him, she makes a point to load Jinx and Gusto into the car every Sunday and give him a quiet day alone – until the third Sunday, when he asks reproachfully where she's been all day; after _that_, they just shut the cats in the laundry room and themselves in the bedroom.

#41 – Nowhere

"Are you _sure _it's not irritating, that you don't have anywhere to go to get away from me?" she asks fearfully, and he sighs and kisses the anxious little frown out of her forehead: "Wendy, the only _irritating_ thing is when you ask me that every other day – otherwise, you're a very agreeable flatmate."

#42 – Neutral

It seems like no matter how many people they tell their _good news_ to, there's still _someone_ who hasn't heard yet, until they've lost count of how many times they've been heartily congratulated and pulled into firm handshakes and misty-eyed hugs; and while Mr. Joker is _very_ good at keeping a neutral expression, Wendy is completely aware that she's grinning like an idiot every time.

#43 - Nuance

It's very _nice_ to have a starry-eyed, warm-hearted, relentlessly optimistic little female around to brighten his day, but far more than that, it's very useful; _he's_ learned to catch her little hints that there's more going on in her head than sunshine and happy songs, but not everyone has, and he's gotten some very useful information that way.

#44 - Near

Sometimes, he suspects that people give him too much credit - it's easy to appear organized and perfectly composed at all times when he has her to buzz industriously about and _keep_ him that way.

#45 - Natural

She turns bright red and sheepish even before he's finished forming a frown, because she _knows_ she's not supposed to do things like that at work, but it just feels so _natural_ to kiss him goodbye before she leaves the room.

#46 - Horizon

"Now, did you marry me, or the view?" he chuckles gently behind her ear, arms twining around her waist, when he finds her on the balcony she's so enamoured with, gazing dreamily into the sunrise.

#47 - Valiant

His strengths have always been firmly entrenched with strategy and planning from the safety of an office, so when he says that letting himself love her is the bravest thing he's ever done, it doesn't have _quite_ express just how terrifying it was to realize that so much of his happiness lay with a girl well known for being _very sweet, but horribly awkward_.

#48 - Virtuous

"It _would_ take a woman to come up with something so stupid," he sighed, rolling his eyes and tracing the line of her shoulder gently through the sheet, when she asked plaintively if spending most of her time wanting desperately to tear his clothes off and drag him to bed made her disgusting and sinful, like Aunt Olivia told her.

#49 - Victory

They've just managed a three-hour stint of overtime without his being persuaded by her gentle coaxing to _play_, or her being tempted into said coaxing by the subtle scent of his hair, or the warmth of his skin through his shirt, or his smile when he finally caught onto her mood; and it's the first time they've lasted this long, so it feels like a major victory.

#50 – Defeat

But victory comes crashing down into defeat when she announces, annoyed, that her silly lacy red undies bunch up uncomfortably every time she falls down, so she's taking them off until they go home, and he offers kindly to help.

------------------------------------------------------------

End Notes: Two out of five! Well, okay, three out of five, since I've got the third theme set with these two ready to go too, but...yeah. Whoo. Go me.

This is my "fluffy pre-OAV AU Joker x Wendy" set, written mostly for the purposes of cheering me up on a bad day. I tried to keep it relatively IC, but I reallyreally didn't wnat to get into the Evil Plot stuff from the TV series. Because I wuvs me my NotSoNice!Joker x Cutesy!Wendy fluff.


	8. A Year in Hiding

A Year in Hiding

-----------------------------------------------------------

Pairing: Joker/Wendy

Theme Set: Gamma

Timeline: Post-TV series

-----------------------------------------------------------

#01 – Ring

He can't decide whether or not to buy her more of that bubble bath; he has no end of fun watching her splash about, surrounded by foamy white bubbles, flushed from the heat of the water and his eyes on her, but he knows that she hates trying to scrub away the ring the stuff leaves on the bathtub.

#02 – Hero

He has told her many times, very bitterly as of late, that morality has nothing to do with being a hero, that a _hero_ basically amounts to _whoever the public likes best at the moment_.

#03 – Memory

Most of the time now, she's glad that they weren't successful in the end, if only because it's given her a chance to repent – because, after all, it's hard to repent for something you don't know you've done; he thinks she's being foolish, but then, he's never been much for repentance.

#04 – Box

"Look on the bright side, Mr. Carpenter; at least we didn't have to bother with the nightmare of packing everything when we moved here."

#05 – Run

"There's a run in your stockings," he tells her coolly before helping her out of them, and her dress afterwards.

#06 – Hurricane

This is the first time it's stormed so badly since he came back to himself, and she finds herself longing acutely for the overgrown child that would bury his face in her shoulder to hide from the lightning.

#07 – Wings

"You used to pull the wings off of ladybugs as a child, didn't you, Sir?"

#08 – Cold

Perhaps a part of him misses being that overgrown child too, she thinks one morning when she finds him stretched out comfortably beside her, one arm flung over her waist; and when she asks him why he's here, he replies with a sleepy shrug that he was cold.

#09 – Red

She has a lot of learning to do before she knows all of his new signals, she thinks hazily as his fist connects roughly with her cheek and her vision erupts into bright red; he has a lot of learning to do before he finds out just where her limits are, he thinks sheepishly as she hits him back with twice the force and his nose starts spurting.

#10 – Drink

Of course she drinks it, but she wonders, baffled, why on earth he looks so happy to keep giving her really _expensive_ red wine when he knows she hates it.

#11 – Midnight

She's alwys loved them, those evenings that she gets to sit up with him, rubbing soothing circles over his knee, but she has to admit that they're even nicer when she knows she doesn't have to get up and go to work the next day.

#12 – Temptation

He is furiously aware that it will only be so long before he has allowed himself to be completely seduced by the peaceful rhythms of a life that is _just them_, and the peaceful passing of the seasons out here where he can see them clearly, and the peaceful contentment in her eyes when he holds her; she can always tell when he's been thinking about it, because that's when his eye are the coldest, his voice the sharpest, and his touch the most stinging.

#13 – View

He let her take the room with the window overlooking the hills and facing to the sunset, because the only view _he_ cares for just now involves the silky white robe he bought her for her last birthday before they came here slipping to the floor.

#14 – Music

When he catches a bright, cheery song in a sweet, girlish voice drifting out from the kitchen, he wonders, pleasantly surprised, when she started singing again.

#15 – Silk

She bought that silly nightgown mostly for him in the first place, because he loved the feel of the black silk under his hands, loved feeling her skin, warm and firm, through the thin fabric; and even now, when he hardly needs the encouragement to touch her, it's become one of her favourite things to wear.

#16 – Cover

She should have known, she thought in irritated despair, bunching up a handful of quilts and sheets and tugging roughly; Mr. Joker hogs the covers.

#17 – Promise

He's never put into words that he fully plans to keep her near him for the rest of his life, because he knows that she understands him very well, understands that he really only voices a promise aloud when he means to break it.

#18 – Dream

When she wakes with a start, shaking with terror and choked sobs, he pulls her close and murmurs soothingly into her hair; and even though she's still too upset from the nightmare she can barely remember to be thrilled, she manages a weak laugh as she tells him that now they're even for all those thunderstorms.

#19 – Candle

They spent Christmas Eve by candlelight, not for any absurd sense of ambience, but because the electricity went, and both were already too drunk on Christmas cheer and mulled wine to call for a repairman, let alone try to fix it themselves; so they just snuggled closer together under a heavy wool blanket and laughed quietly and sang Christmas carols woefully off-key.

#20 – Talent

Usually it's _true love_ when a girl has a special talent for making a man angry; in their case, he reflects complacently that it must be true love, whatever _that_ ridiculously trite little phrase might mean, because she's about the only one who can calm him down those few times that he's gotten good and angry.

#21 – Silence

It's always been strange to her, that someone as gifted at saying absolutely nothing in a lot of pretty-sounding words as he is, can be equally gifted in saying so much in silence; it's always been strange to him, that the only person who can read his silences so completely and so perfectly still needs occasional reassurance in words.

#22 – Journey

He's been promising to take her _somewhere nice_ for years, but she supposes it probably won't happen now, unless they're _escaping_ to somewhere nice; and she doesn't like to tell him when he hates it so, that staying here, with him, is the best place she could be.

#23 – Fire

"You look like a kitten," he tells her, quietly amused, wondering at the urge to scratch behind her ear, when he finds her curled up in front of the fire, snuggling a throw pillow with a blissfully contented smile.

#24 – Strength

He has spoken often of her strength, and she doesn't quite know how to tell him that it's actually weakness that kept her with him all this time, because it would have hurt more to leave than anything else.

#25 – Mask

There are times that he is suspicious about exactly what she's keeping from him, but they don't come very often, because her mask, hiding a lot of anger behind the little bit she lets him see mixed up in love and loyalty and admiration, is very effective.

#26 - Ice

She used to love winter as a child, but now she hates it, and she thinks that his eyes when he's angry with her must be why.

#27 - Fall

She learned very young how to land without hurting herself when she fell down; he didn't fall down as much, so he never learned, and it only makes sense that he takes a little longer to recover, she tells herself, still smarting from his angry command to _leave him alone_.

#28 - Forgotten

One day, when his restlessness is driving them both mad, she takes him with her into town to help with the shopping; and as much as it cheered him up to be out and about, they both spend a nervous two weeks, until they finally accept that no one's coming, and wonder if maybe they've been forgotten.

#29 - Dance

She blanched a little the day he announced cheerfully that he was going to teach her to dance _properly_, because he'd already tried twice before, and it _just didn't take_.

#30 - Body

When the kind old lady at the grocery exclaims in alarm at the bruises peppering her arms and face and asks furtively if these are from that man she lives with, she laughs and replies, "Only some of them; but then, I've given him a few as well."

#31 - Sacred

It surprised her, the day she realized that the Bible readings and hymns she assigned herself every Sunday morning from six o' clock for penance, had become nearly her favourite part of the week; it surprised her even more, the day he came down at five after six to join her.

#32 - Farewells

He has always been far better with goodbyes than she has, so it will probably always seem a little _wrong_ when he comes to meet her at the gate after a short trip into town for a few things, asking questions about where she went, and who she saw, listening with that acute attention that stopped making her nervous years ago.

#33 - World

They have come, with time, to accept that this is their world now, and it's so radically different, she thinks, listening to his gentle, even breathing beneath her cheek, that it is almost as though they have found their new world on their own.

#34 - Formal

He has asked her several times to call him Joseph, because this formality is ridiculous when it's just them; but before long, she always slips back into the old way, and he wonders if the possibility of being his equal scares her more than she'll admit.

#35 - Fever

She'll always remember the feel of his arms around her and his chin resting against her hair when he sat up with her, pressing a cool cloth to her forehead when he thought of it, through the chilled, aching, half-aware misery of a particularly bad fever.

#36 - Laugh

The last time she can remember hearing him really laugh is the day she brought that poor stray kitten inside for a good meal and some shelter through a blizzard, and ended up chasing a crazy, thoroughly spooked little creature around the house after she tripped over it and broke more dishes than he ever found out about.

#37 - Lies

In the time since they've come here, she has forgotten how to lie convincingly, and it worries her, because she knows that he is still adept at it.

#38 - Forever

"Mr. Carpenter!" she wails when she catches him putting something back in completely the wrong place; "It took me _forever_ to get that shelf organized, and this is exactly why!"

#39 - Overwhelmed

Of course there are still times when despair and anger overwhelm peace and tranquility and the grim acceptance that their failure was _for the best anyway_, and even though he much prefers her smiling and laughing to choking back sobs, he's glad that he can remember why they're here.

#40 - Whisper

The only time he ever tells her quietly that he's sorry he's hurt her, wipes away still-wet tears, is when she's asleep, exhausted from trying to sort out what to do now.

#41 - Wait

The best thing to do, she has learned over the months, is wait until he finds his own way over it, because trying to help only makes it worse for both of them.

#42 - Talk

"Feel like going out to plant that garden you've been obsessing over all winter?" he asks casually one blithe spring morning, and she stares in disbelieving bewilderment, because this is the first time he's spoken to her in three days.

#43 - Search

It took her a long time to find all of his weak points, and even now, she only uses them when she has to.

#44 - Hope

Over the months, his hope that they can someday slip back into the world and realize their goals has become the hope that they can find something else to live for; but all along, she's just kept praying that they'll never be found, that they'll stay here forever.

#45 - Eclipse

She has always felt safest when she is hiding in his shadow, knowing even so that he sees and appreciates her back there.

#46 - Gravity

"Can you take _anything_ seriously when it doesn't relate to you?" she asks angrily when he finds her in the process of burying her pet kitten, the one she adopted this winter, and chuckles in gentle amusement at her solemnity.

#47 - Highway

He never found out, until he thought to ask her, that sometimes she did her shopping a town over, about an hour's walk down the highway, and that's why he couldn't find her when something suspicious and uneasy drove him out of the house and into town to walk her home.

#48 - Unknown

Sometimes, a flash of something chillingly familiar comes into his eyes, and she realizes anew that she has no idea what he's thinking a lot of the time, and really, she's glad for that.

#49 - Lock

She only wants him to be with her _as long as he wants to_; he has no such conditions, and will happily keep her under lock and key if he has to.

#50 - Breathe

When they wake up one morning to realize that they've been here one year today, a massive weight seems to lift from both of them, and as they cling together in joyous relief, they learn anew what it is to breathe.

------------------------------------------------------------


	9. Playing Favourites

Playing Favourites

* * *

Summary: The way Yomiko is with books, Nenene knows that being _her_ favourite author is something to be proud of. Yomiko/Nenene, with hints of Nenene/Yomiko/Nancy.

* * *

#01 - Walking

After the third time she barely manages to steer Yomiko away from an open manhole, Nenene confiscates the paperback she's got her nose in, _for your own good, so stop looking at me like that, _and then smacks her in the back of the head with it, just for fun.

#02 - Waltz

Normally, Nenene just rolls her eyes and ignores it when Yomiko dances crazily about the room with her new find, but somehow, it's a little different when it's _her_ book that Yomiko is clutching like the most precious thing on earth.

#03 - Wishes

"I wouldn't need three wishes; there's only one thing I want," Nenene mutters when Michelle asks dreamily what she'd ask for if a genie popped out of her toaster or something.

#04 - Wonder

Sometimes Yomiko wonders why it's been so long since Nenene's last book, and there are times when she almost makes up her mind to go ask her.

#05 - Worry

But then she remembers why she's here in the first place, remembers that Nancy needs her close, and remembers the danger that their friendship has put Nenene in before.

#06 - Whimsy

Most of the time she thinks it's crazy, but sometimes, when it's after midnight and she's typing furiously away at her laptop with Yomiko reading over one shoulder and Nancy reading over the other, Nenene can almost believe Yomiko's fervent assurance that the three of them can be happy together.

#07 - Waste/Wasteland

She swore she wasn't going to do it, no matter _what_; and yet, after half an hour of watching Yomiko's eyes grow big and sad and wobbly at the vast bookless wasteland before her, she pulls a paperback out of her purse with a sigh of defeat and sends her grocery shopping buddy to the bench outside to read.

#08 - Whiskey and rum

Nenene remembers the first and last time she ever got Yomiko drunk; she thought it might be funny, and quickly changed her mind when Yomiko complained that the words wouldn't stay still, and then watched her sadly until she ended up with a wicked sore throat from reading aloud all night.

#09 - War

It would be _nice_ to think that all the fighting and pain and grief are over for Yomiko now, because Nenene thinks she's damn well been through enough, especially for someone who wants nothing more out of life than a little peace and quiet and a good book; but if the first twenty-three years of her life hadn't killed her inner optimist, this past one would have finished it off.

#10 - Weddings

The whole day's been a bit surreal, sitting through Drake's wedding to Joker's former hench-wench without anyone getting shot or dumped at the altar, but the weirdest part is yet to come, when Yomiko and Nancy conspire to drag her onto the dance floor and keep her sandwiched between them for a slow-dance.

#11 - Birthday

"You've been up here all evening, and I never got to wish you happy birthday," Yomiko explains with a beaming smile and faint blush when Nenene turns from her computer, stunned and breathing quickly, at the random neck-kissing and ear-nibbling.

#12 - Blessing

Sometimes, Nenene finds herself on the verge of just stepping gracefully aside and giving Yomiko and Nancy her blessing; but it's usually only a few seconds before she comes to her senses, determined to push Yomiko to make a choice instead of one of them making it for her.

#13 - Bias

"Okay, so it's a biased opinion, but I'll take it," Nenene says with a small smile, scratching one bright red cheek, as Yomiko rambles on, starry-eyed, about how _wonderful_ the new chapter is.

#14 - Burning

They were _supposed_ to be watching the cookies while Maggie ran out to get more sugar for the icing, but then Nenene started flipping absently through the cookbook, and Yomiko pressed in close to read over her shoulder, and Maggie came back to find the book discarded on the floor, two girls in a distinctly distracted heap next to it, and the cookies blackened in the oven.

#15 - Breathing

When Yomiko reminisces about learning to read at the age of two, Nenene's a little startled, because she just can't get her head around Yomiko ever _not_ knowing how to read; it's a little like imagining someone who has to learn how to breathe.

#16 - Breaking

It's going to cost more to repair those stupid things than it would to just buy a new pair; but even thought Nenene doesn't approve of this obsession with a dead lover's glasses (because you'd _think _that the two Yomiko has now would be enough), she knows perfectly well that she's going to end up shelling out the repair cost, because Yomiko's powers of manipulation don't only work on paper.

#17 - Belief

Nenene likes to think that _common sense_ is her only belief system, but she kind of thinks that if it was, she wouldn't have spent four years absolutely _sure_ that Yomiko was going to come back to her.

#18 - Balloon

"Give me a break," she mutters when Yomiko looks up from the manuscript, startled, at the part about the talking bunnies sailing all over the world with a bunch of hot air balloons; "It was Michelle's idea to _write_ Drake and Wendy a baby gift, and I've never done a kid's book before."

#19 - Balcony

"It's too dark to read," Yomiko notes sadly, and Nenene just snuggles closer, arms tightening to keep her out here a little longer.

#20 - Bane

"Look, I _know_ you hate it, but I don't have time to run out to the library every time I have to check a fact!" Nenene protests when Yomiko catches her using that online library and eyes her reproachfully.

#21 - Quiet

It was weird; Yomiko never made much noise when she was around, and now that she's come back, she still doesn't; yet somehow, when she was gone, the quiet was so much..._quieter_ that Nenene ended up buying a massive flat panel TV she never watches, just for the background noise.

#22 - Quirks

"You know, just because being loud and bossy and rude make her _who she is_, it doesn't mean you're not allowed to get annoyed," Anita points out, and Yomiko blinks, startled, because it never occurred to her to be annoyed by it.

#23 - Question

Even though Yomiko is the first person to leap out of her skin with delight when Nenene finishes something new, she sometimes doesn't know exactly what to say when Nenene asks what she thought, because _it's my new favourite_ probably has little meaning to someone who knows that _every_ book is her favourite while she's reading it.

#24 - Quarrel

"Yes, you do!" Yomiko protests when Nenene scoffs that she doesn't _fight_ with Nancy, she's _never_ fought with Nancy; "You two fight all the time, with your eyes!"

#25 - Quitting

Yomiko's about ready to cry when Nenene announces flatly that this one's going nowhere and probably won't ever be finished, and it occurs to her to wonder if she'd get that kind of reaction if she ducked out of being the _other_ lover, instead of just giving up on some story that never even hit the second page.

#26 - Jump

"So, what am I supposed to do when I want to leave, long-jump to the door?" Nenene asks grumpily when she finds her path out of the apartment blocked by the day's acquisitions; but then Yomiko and Nancy exchange impish looks and leap as one, and it doesn't become an issue again for many, many hours.

#27 - Jester

It's always driven her a little crazy, the way Yomiko refuses to deal with things until they're right on top of her, but she has to admit, it's a hell of a lot better than those people with an inborn ability to take anything seriously.

#28 - Jousting

"Yeah, I know you like Ivanhoe, but how the hell am I supposed to work a jousting scene into something set _last week_?"

#29 - Jewel

"Come on, you don't think a piercing would make my belly-button hot?" Nenene laughs as they pass a salon, and Yomiko assumes an expression of deep consideration: "Actually, I think it's very nice already."

#30 - Just

It really doesn't seem _fair_ to Nenene that Nancy could show up out of nowhere, try to kill off the planet, and still get the girl in the end, while _she_ gave her a place to live and wrote her books and _still_ got ditched for half a decade; but then, the world's never been fair, and it's usually not nice either, so she's lucky that she _ever_ got to see Yomiko again.

#31 - Smirk

Yomiko is more grateful to Michelle, Maggie, and Anita than she can ever say, not just for keeping Nenene safe, but for bringing back her smile - her _real_ smile, not just a sardonic smirk.

#32 - Sorrow

It still baffles her every time she sees it: Yomiko, who has gone through more than most people can imagine, still cries over the troubles of fictional characters.

#33 - Stupidity

"Yomiko, I was there for the stupidest thing you ever did," Nenene says sternly in response to the older girl's lamentation, "and it had nothing to do with putting whole mangoes in a blender."

#34 - Serenade

"Okay, cut it out," Nenene half-orders and half-pleads as Yomiko, taking to heart her lover's complaint that romance is pretty much dead with them, drops to one knee and launches into a love song she's made up on the spot; "People are starting to stare."

#35 - Sarcasm

"I don't think she was being sarcastic," Nancy tells a dejected Yomiko soothingly; "Nenene knows that there are different kinds of smart."

#36 - Sordid

"Oh, go buy a dirty magazine, you pervert!" Nenene snarls at the young man watching, fascinated, as she and Nancy and Yomiko try to squeeze into a bus seat meant for two.

#37 - Soliloquy

Nenene has a very unique way of turning a phrase, whether it's on paper or off, and Yomiko wonders if that's why she never gets tired of this, running her fingers through the babyfine caramel hair spilling over her leg and listening to every detail of Nenene's day.

#38 - Sojourn

She'd kind of like to plan a surprise trip for Yomiko, take her to the beach, or to a play, or something like that, but she's pretty sure that no matter where they ended up going, Yomiko would just end up being disappointed that it wasn't a book store.

#39 - Share

When she looks up from her book for the first time in three hours to find Nenene and Nancy gone and a scribbled note on the table that mentions _shoe shopping_, Yomiko thinks she should be thrilled that they're spending time _alone_ together, but can't help but think that maybe she understands now why most people don't like to share.

#40 - Solitary

When she sees how codependent Yomiko and Nancy have become over the last five years, Nenene's almost grateful for the time she spent on her own; after all, _someone_ has to take care of these two, and Junior can't do it all the time.

#41 - Nowhere

"Well, then where the hell am I supposed to sit?" Nenene demanded, annoyed, when Yomiko asked anxiously that she not sit on any of the books, please; and now she's blushing, and Nancy is giggling, because Yomiko just smiled charmingly and suggested that their house guest sit in her lap.

#42 - Neutral

The three of them have been spending a lot of time at Yomiko's apartment lately, even though there's hardly room for them with all the books, because that way neither Nenene nor Nancy has the _home court advantage_ - and neither Junior nor Anita runs the risk of seeing anything that'll send them to therapy.

#43 - Nuance

"I can't believe you wrote me a birthday card!" Yomiko gushes, misty-eyed, and Nenene stares; "I can't believe you can tell I wrote it - it was only three lines."

#44 - Near

It's strange; normally, she hates having people in the same room while she's writing, but when it's Yomiko, it's just fine.

#45 - Natural

"Natural beauty's all well and good, but you _could_ brush your hair every now and again," Nenene grumbles, working a comb gently through tangle after tangle.

#46 - Horizon

"Why did I get out of bed this morning?" Nenene groans as Yomiko catches sight of the bookstore shining on the horizon like a beacon of hope, and dances giddily towards it.

#47 - Valiant

"I'll show you, Nenene; no matter how much I want to read, I won't touch a book for a whole day!" Yomiko insists, and Nenene just scratches her head: "Okay, that's great, but _why_?"

#48 - Virtuous

"C'mon, you know you want to," Nenene purrs, dangling a brand new book in front of Yomiko's eyes, but Yomiko just turns away, with an expression of noble self-sacrifice, and watches television instead.

#49 - Victory

"There's only another hour until midnight!" Yomiko proclaims triumphantly to a baffled, irritated Nenene, who can't understand for the life of her why Yomiko's putting herself through this kind of agony; "I've almost made it!"

#50 – Defeat

"I have a book hidden somewhere on me, but I don't remember where, so I'll need your help to find it," Nenene announces, bursting into the room in several layers of clothes, and Yomiko's will buckles beneath this dual temptation, until five minutes to midnight sees her curled up on Nenene's distinctly unclothed chest, reading blissfully away.

* * *

End Notes: Wow. That was...bizarrely difficult. But the last four were fun. Yes, I provide myself with great amusement. XD


End file.
